


blessings wait

by jisquish



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: <- not rlly a main plotpoint but b careful!, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Past Child Abuse, and minor character death in future chapters, basically there is like. gang shit but its magic ???????? idk, just the universe and blessings aspect u kno da fuckin vibes, loosely inspired by the songbird and the sea by maia_archives, magical powers n shit, not tagging relationships yet bc shhh secret, reupload (read authors note for that lol), slight violence but nothing very graphic if that eeks u out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 13:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22336987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisquish/pseuds/jisquish
Summary: The one thing Felix had known for sure his whole life was that Blessings would never be something that affected him. That he would be able to live simply, away from the drama of the magical world.That is, until his parents died. And he went to live with his cousin, who could somehow speak to the plants, and the both of them were sucked into a world of warlords and magic and betrayal, where Felix found out a bit more about himself than he'd been planning to.
Comments: 56
Kudos: 86





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> hello its me *we irritatin pose* first of all if youre thinking 'this looks familiar' thats bc its a fic i /was/ posting (got about 7 chapters in i think?) like a year ago and took down bc i was sooo unhappy w it >.< ive edited it a bit writing style wise and i intend to actually continue it now hopefully consistently !! no major plot changes in the parts that were already posted so no worry for that if u read it the first time around. 
> 
> i've been SO out of fic-writing + writing in general since i posted the read my lips one year anniversary chapter (which also i hate now surprise surprise) and ive rlly missed it honestly :( so pls give this love!! i promise its going lots of exciting directions and i hope you enjoy it, especially if u never read it the first time around lol
> 
> ages since they're a bit different in this fic—  
> chan + minho: 20  
> changbin: 18  
> hyunjin, jisung, felix: 17  
> seungmin: 16  
> jeongin: 15

The boys charged.

Raising his fist and with a war cry to match, Felix and the rest of his team took off down the hill towards the others, using his free hand to shield his eyes from the midday sun. The dozen or so young boys living in the village met in the small valley with a clash of makeshift wooden swords. The older boys, Felix included, made at least some real effort to spar with whatever wooden weapon they had attempted to whittle down, while the younger ones went for a slightly less sophisticated approach of just screaming and swinging.

Felix watched their runner break away surreptitiously from the pack with only the slightest tinge of resentment. He knew he could have been just as fast, if not faster, but he didn’t dare ask and no one would have ever volunteered him. Too weird, too much a foreigner, too related to Seungmin.

He was fine with it. Or at least he pretended to be, for Amma and Seungmin’s sakes. They dealt with enough without him whining about being left out.

Spaced out for a minute, he was whacked in the stomach and doubled over as the air rushed out of his lungs. He panicked for a moment, his brain flashing an ‘ASTHMA ATTACK’ warning, but in just another second he was breathing fluidly again. He straightened up, glaring at his attacker. The boy, an 18-year-old named Minseung who towered over Felix even when squatting, just smirked, already moving on to another target as Felix sullenly picked up his fallen weapon.

With the slightest snarl, Felix turned to the nearest member of the opposing team and raised his crudely hewn sword in invitation. Almost all the boys in the village (and several of the girls too) liked to practice sword fighting with each other, even though there wasn’t a single real sword on the island. Felix wasn’t much of a fighter, but when he did, he preferred to do so with his hands—any weapon always felt too clumsy in his grasp, and he fought back with gritted teeth.

The game had barely gone on for 3 minutes when there were suddenly shouts from Felix’s team’s base. Distracted, he turned to see Minseung loping back to his side with a blue flag clutched in his hand. Felix’s gut sank in dismay as his gaze landed on Seungmin, who had been their keeper for this round. The younger was kneeling on the dirt floor, wiping a bloody lip on the back of his hand.

There was an immediate vocal reaction from everyone present—either crows of victory from the winning team or groans and angry yells from Felix’s half of the valley as the losers threw down their weapons and the winners slung arms around each other's shoulders, jumping around haphazardly.

Before he even realized he was moving, Felix found himself crouched at Seungmin’s side, trying to steady his cousin by grasping his shoulder. “You okay?”

Seungmin nodded slowly, still holding one hand to a swollen cheek and lip.

“Sword?” Felix asked, slightly concerned. Many of the boys didn’t really understand the concept of holding back, and a huge wooden stick could do some serious damage. Thankfully, Seungmin shook his head.

“Fist,” he said, voice thick. “I lost us the game.”

“It’s just a game.”

“Kim!”

Dread settled in Felix’s stomach. He took a calculated breath before turning around to face a few of the oldest members of their team, all of whom were glaring at Seungmin.

“Was it too much to ask that you don’t fuck it up once in your life?” one of them demanded, his face bright red.

“He didn’t do it on purpose!” Felix shouted back, wind ruffling his hair. “You’ve lost our flag plenty of times.”

The boy just sneered. One of the others made a weird sort of motion as if he intended to spit at Seungmin’s feet but couldn’t hock up enough to see it through. “Shouldn’t have expected anything else from the freak, ” he continued viciously, and Felix snapped, jumping to his feet, fists clenched at his side.

“Take that back,” he said lowly. Next to him, he felt Seungmin stumble to his feet and grab his wrist. “Lix, c’mon, leave it,” he said, sniffling. “It’s just a game. Sorry I messed up,” he added, directing the last part to the other boys with a small nod.

Felix said nothing, still shaking with anger and silently staring down the three boys as the island wind buffeted his thin clothes. He’d only been living in the village for 8 months, and that word ( _freak_ ) they threw around like it was nothing still turned his stomach. Especially to hear it directed at Seungmin, at his baby cousin, at someone who never did anything wrong besides being born.

If there was a way to be born wrong, though, Seungmin had managed it.

From what he’d told Felix, he found out that plants listened to him in a way they didn’t to others when he was 8. When flowers started curling around his wrists, when grass started stretching up his legs as he watched like it was eager to be his friend, when he could cup a hand around a withered bud and watch it shift back to liveliness in a moment. At that age, he hadn’t understood all the implications of this—Blessings were rarely a big thing in smaller villages such as the one Seungmin had lived in his entire life, and their mayor at the time was very tolerant. He’d told his mother, who had swallowed her fear and pasted a smile on her face for the sake of her son. She told him only to try and keep his ability under wraps, that there was nothing wrong with him and he was just special, but that some of the other boys might be jealous.

What he learned about later, though, was the crusades. The statistics. The history of Blessings and the persecution of those that have them, and how extremely, extremely rare they actually are.

Felix had learned all that back home, sitting in a classroom and squirming with boredom. He was never going to know someone with a Blessing, and he and Chris would laugh over the idea of meeting someone someday with the power to split rocks or create storms or start forest fires. Magic wasn’t unheard of by any means, but there was magic and then there were Blessings, and the latter was one of those things you either laughed about or cried over. It was a little less funny after they learned about the mass killings of those that were found out, but it was always something that was very separate from Felix and his life.

Or it was, that is. Until his parents died and he had to leave the bustling city he’d lived in his whole life to stay with his aunt and uncle in a tiny village on Jeju surrounded by a language he barely spoke and he had to actually get a talk about Seungmin’s… situation. 

In the time since he’d been told, he’d implored Seungmin to make the flowers dance or the clovers curl about a million times. Seungmin always laughed at Felix’s begging face, but always gave in in the end, and the two could sit in the grassy area behind their small house for hours as Felix watched his younger cousin manipulate the plants around them with wonder in his gaze. He and Seungmin had been close ever since they were young, even though they didn’t get to see each other much, so it was strange to find out that there was such a large part of Seungmin’s identity that Felix simply hadn’t been aware of.

Learning of the rest, though, of those that had spotted evidence of Seungmin’s abilities back before he was truly able to control them and had then made it their business to inform anyone that would listen of his ‘freak’ status, made him understand a little better.

It had been a serious thing, whole town meetings held over the matter. The official policy of the moment (if it could even be said that any policy was really official anymore) was that those found to have Blessings should be reported and at the very least registered, if not killed. While this wasn’t the case for most (though they seemed to end up dead somehow no matter the legalese), people still tended to look at people with abilities with an air of fear. The old propaganda remained fresh in the minds of many.

But 10-year-old, wide-eyed Seungmin, who talked to the flowers in his backyard couldn’t have been less of a threat. The mayor (and thank heavens for the mayor) had made it a firm understanding within the small village that no one talked about Seungmin and what he could do outside of the boundaries of their town.

So 6 years later, Seungmin and his mother still existed in that same brand of quiet they always did, just a little louder now. The noise Felix brought with him, or the noise that followed in the murmurs that ricochet around a too-small town, or the noise that buried itself deep in the scrapes and bruises Felix and Amma found themselves treating at least once a week and whose origins Seungmin would not speak a word on. He would press his lips together till they turned white and shake his head, eyes everywhere but concerned faces, the only sound passing his teeth a small hiss of pain as they bandaged whatever small wound it was that day.

(Seungmin did not really like noise. Felix thought that was a little too poetic.)

Blinking himself back to awareness, Felix found himself still staring angrily at the three older boys as Seungmin tugged at his sleeve. He reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged away, turning to face Seungmin as soon as they’d gotten a good distance from the still-raucous crowd of boys.

“They’re jerks,” Felix grumbled eloquently.

Still holding onto Felix’s sleeve, Seungmin refused to acknowledge his cousin’s frustration. “Let’s just go home.”

Instantly, Felix felt bad for trying to force a confrontation. He knew Seungmin had a hard time navigating how he interacted with the people who were cruel to him. Felix swallowed and nodded, slinging an arm around Seungmin’s shoulders and remarking as he did so that his younger cousin was growing quickly—he was already almost taller than Felix.

Amma wasn’t home when they entered, probably still working in the market, but Felix was already very familiar with their first aid supplies, whether he was using them on Seungmin or on himself. Seungmin seated himself obediently on a wooden stool as Felix fixed up a bandage to paste on his cheek after cleaning the small wound.

“Maybe I should stop joining in,” Seungmin mumbled after a few moments of comfortable silence. Felix processed his words for a moment, then paused with a hand over the bandage, face falling.

“Minnie, c’mon,” he said, ignoring the groan of protest at the childish nickname. “You like Capture The Flag.”

“Not anymore,” Seungmin said quietly. “I’d rather just hang out with you or by myself. They’re never gonna like me.”

“They’re—they’re not all like that,” Felix protested, mind racing for something good to say. “You shouldn’t have to—to—to—it’s not fair,” he finished lamely.

Seungmin just shrugged.

Felix felt like his stomach had plummeted past his feet and through the floor. Capture the Flag was one of the few things that involved other people that Felix knew Seungmin actually enjoyed, and the physical sensation of knowing how far he’d been pushed to consider giving it up was too much for Felix’s heart. Seungmin was only a year younger than him at 16, but still—that was his _baby cousin_ , and Felix hadn’t realized how much he was hurting from something he couldn’t even control.

After Felix finished pressing the bandage into place, Seungmin disappeared into their shared room without a word, which was even stranger—usually to spend time by himself he’d go outside, behind their little house, to just sit amongst the flowers for a bit. The idea that he was too upset to even seek solace in the earth brought a fresh wave of distress over Felix, and he gnawed on his thumbnail as he watched Seungmin vanish behind their door.

-

That night at dinner, they ate in silence. Amma’s eyes skimmed the bandage on Seungmin’s forehead with concern but she said nothing, just pressed her lips together and served him a little more than normal. Felix swallowed each spoonful of rice feeling like his throat was coated in cotton, watching nervously as Seungmin did a lot more moving his food around than eating.

Amma swallowed dryly. “Anything fun happen today?” she asked, trying not to look as if she knew exactly what all had happened today. Felix looked at Seungmin, who shook his head, still staring down at his bowl. Felix bit his lip and said nothing. If Seungmin didn’t want to talk, that was his own dilemma.

Amma sighed, bracing her hands on either side of her plate like she was about to shove herself away from the table and sprint. She seemed that way a lot—always preparing herself for something bad, always ready to run, in defense mode. Felix wondered a lot how long she’d been that way, if it had started with the flowers or long before that.

“Seungmin,” she said, mouth closing around his name like it was the heaviest thing in the world. “You know I want to be here for you. If those boys are being cruel again—” She cut herself off. Seungmin said nothing, still staring down at the table, and Felix shifted uncomfortably.

“I just want you to talk to me,” she said, sounding defeated, already ready to give up and lapse into silence again. Seungmin’s shoulders were almost painfully hunched, and Felix was just about to quietly excuse himself from the table when suddenly there was a clamor of shouts from outside.

Amma sprung to her feet— like she’d been ready to— and hurried to the window, concern already creasing her brow. Felix stood as well, but Seungmin remained frozen at the table, staring down into his food as Felix approached where Amma stood, trying to get a clear glimpse of what was going outside.

Before he even reached the window, Amma reached out and slammed the curtains shut, flying to the other window and doing the same as the room plunged into moderate darkness without the help of sunlight or a candle. He could still see her face clearly when she turned, and how drained it was of color, and his heart leaped into his throat.

“Out,” she rasped, grabbing Felix’s wrist and hurrying to Seungmin too as she shoved them both towards the back door. Felix’s heart was pounding in his chest.

“What’s going on?” he asked, tripping as he shoved on his shoes and put a hand on the door handle.

“No time,” she replied, shaking her head vigorously and pulling on her jacket. “We need to go.”

“Mom,” Seungmin said, his first spoken word in hours. “What’s happening?”

She cracked open the back door, peeking outside. Felix noticed that her hands were trembling when she turned back to them.

“The Dark Bandit,” she said, already pushing them out the door. “The Dark Bandit is here.”

-

“Here?” Felix and Seungmin squeaked simultaneously, stumbling out onto the grass and turning back to face her as she closed the door firmly.

“What is he doing here?” Felix demanded shakily. “Of all places? We don’t—there’s nothing—”

Amma cut him off with a look. “We don’t have time to think about it. We just need to get away from here as fast as we can. If they go into the house…” She took a shuddery breath. “It’ll be fine, but I just need you two to be safe.”

“Wh-where are we going?” Seungmin asked, eyes wide with terror. “How many of them? Did you—” He swallowed hard. “Did you see him ?”

Felix turned to stare at her as well, unable to keep the awe off his face. The Dark Bandit was legendary. He was one of a small group of infamous Blessed criminals, but easily the most well known of them. It was still uncertain exactly what his blessing was, but he could make people see things that weren’t there and flood entire villages with darkness—hence his pseudonym. But for him to be here, in a tiny village off the coast, was almost unheard of. He had been given credit for the razings of entire cities, countless charges of theft, murder, and arson, and his alleged presence in their midst was making Felix’s heart pound violently against his ribcage.

(What he’d always thought, but would never admit, was that the Dark Bandit was like, really cool. Beyond, of course, the arson and the murdering parts—but he had a Blessing and had managed to evade capture for however many years, and Felix had never imagined that he’d one day be in his presence. )

Amma remained silent for a moment, then said tightly, “Yes.”

She ignored the boys’ instantaneous flurry of sound ("What does he look like?!" "Is he really 8 feet tall?"), shushing them reproachfully as she finished locking the door and signaled for the both of them to follow her.

“Where are we going?” Felix hissed. The village was nothing if not isolated—they had the sea on one side and the forest on the other. He could think of no way they could escape undetected, heart pounding against his ribcage.

“The woods,” Amma said shortly, checking around a corner before hurrying to the shelter of another back alley. The shouts and screams were getting louder as they went closer to the heart of the village, but they had to pass through a certain way to get to the forest. We’re not going to make it, Felix thought miserably. He wondered what dying would feel like. It seemed like he should be a little bit more distressed about this, but he was still in a state of shock.

Felix felt a hand wrap around his wrist and looked over at his cousin. Seungmin seemed to be feeling the same—his eyes were wide and his jaw slack, thin body trembling as they moved through the cobbled roads as quickly as they dared.

“Hey,” Felix said softly, maneuvering Seungmin’s hand into his and squeezing gently. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll be fine.” He was completely contradicting his train of thought, but he could see the panic bubbling up in his cousin, and they couldn’t afford that right now if there was to be any chance of them making it out of this.

“It’s me,” Seungmin mumbled blankly. Felix furrowed his brow. “Huh?”

“Me,” Seungmin repeated. “Someone told them—it’s me.”

Felix was cut off from further questioning this by Amma shushing them as she peered around another corner. The village was built claustrophobically, with all the buildings squashed in by each other, creating a maze of side alleys. She paused for a moment, then beckoned over her shoulder as they rounded another corner. She was clearly trying to get them as far away from whatever the main source of commotion seemed to be, and Felix thought of their makeshift wooden swords with a wince. Surely the Dark Bandit and his men would have real steel, real weapons. No one in the village would stand a chance.

They made slow progress between houses, but curiously enough, saw almost no one else. Felix didn’t want to think too much about what that could mean. Their house was on the very edge of town, on the side by the beach, so maybe the gang had come from inland and crossed over that way.

After almost 10 of the most nerve-wracking minutes in Felix’s life, he knew they were reaching the other edge of the cluster of houses. They’d had a very close scrape when all of a sudden Amma had grabbed both their collars and had them all press themselves flat against a wall and not make a noise as they watched a man with shaggy black hair and a red face mask stroll down the alley they’d been about to cross, carelessly twirling a long type of sword and whistling. Felix’s heart was still pounding from that, and also he was pretty sure that man had been the Red Bullet, like,  _ the _ Red Bullet, and ‘starstruck’ definitely wasn’t the right word but it was still something kind of close.

“When we get into the forest,” Amma said lowly, “we have to be just as careful. There are things in—”

There was a scrape, a rustle, a thud, and she broke off, stumbling to a halt as Felix and Seungmin stopped behind her as they watched the source of the sound, frozen. A very solid body had just landed on the ground a few feet before them, seemingly from nowhere.

Felix blinked, processing what had just happened. He’d thought the body was crumpled, but the person was just squatting, and as he watched the man stand up fluidly he realized that the bandit must have been walking along the roofs, had maybe even been following them for who knows how long.

And the man was now pointing a pistol at Amma’s head, and Felix went very, very still.


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s him, ” Felix heard someone whisper, only realizing after a few moments that someone had been himself.
> 
> The Scourge of the East. The subject of countless horror stories. Wanted all over Korea, and far beyond there too.
> 
> The Dark Bandit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> going to try and update every sunday ! no promises ! love u !

“Whatcha doin’?” the man—boy?—asked. He was wearing a black facemask, but his eyes looked almost friendly, crinkled in what was definitely a smile below the fabric. It was more terrifying than any glare could have been.

Felix swallowed dryly. Seungmin’s palm in his was slick with sweat, and Felix was sure his was no better.

“Don’t—” Seungmin said, stepping towards Amma, who had shut her eyes and gone completely white. His voice cracked into the beginning of a sob, and he dropped his eyes to the ground, shaking like a leaf.

The bandit didn’t lower his gun, just took a step forward so that the muzzle was pressed firmly against her forehead. Amma looked a little faint but stood her ground, and Felix felt a rush of mingled respect and terror for his aunt.

“No worries,” the bandit said cheerfully. “Just have to make sure you don’t make a break for it, you know? Gotta get everyone in the town square. Rules.” He even sounded genuinely apologetic, which was sickening. Felix felt bile rise in his throat.

“So,” the bandit continued, backing up a little and gesturing towards the center of the town, where they’d just been trying so hard to escape from. “ _Apres-vous_. ”

Without hesitation, Amma turned to head back. She made eye contact with Felix briefly before the bandit jabbed the pistol into her back and she stumbled forward, but Felix could read nothing in her dark eyes.

The bandit looked at the other two boys as he passed, and gave a jerk of his head. “I assume you don’t want her to get shot? Then c’mon.”

Seungmin clapped a hand over his mouth as his body shook with a sob. Felix wrapped a protective arm around the smaller boy without even thinking about it. Something flickered in the masked boy’s eyes as they lingered on the cousins, but then it was gone in a moment as he signaled for them to go ahead of him, pistol still very much at the ready.

Seungmin was clutching Felix’s hand so hard he could feel the blood leaving it as his fingers began to tingle, but he ignored the discomfort and squeezed back. They followed Amma, the bandit trailing behind them. Seungmin was trembling, and Felix felt like he should be too, but he was steady if only through shock. Nothing like this had ever happened to their village before, and he had never imagined it would, even back when he lived in the city. His vision wouldn't focus, and his mind was racing a million miles an hour as they trudged back through the town they’d just been so close to escaping from.

The masked boy had said that they were gathering everyone in the town square. Felix shuddered to think why. The only reason his brain would provide him with was a mass slaughter, and he felt a funny taste in his mouth at the thought, already planning, already thinking. He could jump in front of Seungmin, could grab the muzzle of the gun to his own head instead of Amma’s, he could tell them to run and hope he died quickly, or he could do something right now—he could try and get the gun away from the bandit—he was fast, it wasn’t too long of a shot—his hand twitched—

Cold metal pressed to the back of his neck, and he froze.

“Don’t get any ideas,” the bandit said in a drawl. Felix could hear the smile in the boy’s words. It was enough to turn his stomach.

His heart was still thumping uncomfortably loudly against his chest when they reached the town square a couple of minutes later. As they approached the open cobblestone area, Felix stumbled on a rock in the road but barely fell two inches before someone’s hand fisted in the fabric of his shirt and pulled him upright again. He turned to see the bandit motioning him forward again, and hurried ahead with Seungmin’s hand still clutched in his own.

It looked like the entirety of the rest of their village was huddled there. There were a few faces missing, and Felix hoped against hope that they had escaped and not been—well, nevermind. He just hoped they had escaped. There was Jeon Minseung, looking much paler than normal and clutching his father’s shoulder. The mayor was not sparing a glance at his son, only focusing his gaze on the man standing in the center of the square, leaning against a pillar, looking like he had all the time in the world.

“It’s him, ” Felix heard someone whisper, only realizing after a few moments that someone had been himself.

The Scourge of the East. The subject of countless horror stories. Wanted all over Korea, and far beyond there too.

The Dark Bandit.

Felix wasn’t entirely sure what he’d been expecting, but it had been both exactly this and completely the opposite. Only his eyes were showing above a black face mask, but Felix could still tell that he was young, way younger than Felix had thought—at the very most, only 5 or so years older than Felix himself. He was dressed all in black—very on brand—and had a mess of rumpled black hair punctuated by an undercut He didn’t appear to be holding any weapons, but Felix wasn’t foolish enough to believe this meant he was unarmed. He’d heard the tales, of how the criminal could bend light, could make people go crazy seeing things that weren’t there, could plunge entire villages into darkness and only lift the curse when everyone lay slaughtered on the ground.

As Amma, Felix, and Seungmin were nudged into the open to join the other crowd of people, their movement caught his eye and he glanced over. Felix couldn’t help but freeze. His entire being trembled as the Dark Bandit narrowed his eyes, hands twitching at his side. Felix could barely hear anything past his own blood rushing in his ears.

He was snapped out of the moment when he felt the cold metal of the gun again on the back of his neck, pushing him steadily forward. He tore his vision away from the criminal, hands shaking as he stumbled to stand at the edge of the crowd with Amma and Seungmin.

The young man that had caught them escaping tapped his gun to his own temple in a sloppy imitation of a salute, shooting them a wink as he went to stand closer to the Dark Bandit.

Trying desperately to regulate his breathing, Felix took in the scene. There was the crowd of people from his village, obviously, who had mostly been pushed to stand against the town hall, a rickety old building that faced the center of the square. There was a dried-up fountain in the middle of the dirt clearing, and it was there that the Dark Bandit was standing, along with the young man that had caught Felix and his family, then another young man with no mask and sandy hair, and a woman with long blonde hair whose face was almost completely covered by a strip of blue fabric.

Felix avoided looking directly at the Dark Bandit—those few seconds of eye contact had left him more shaken than he’d ever want to admit, and just knowing that it was really him that was standing there stole any coherent thought from his mind. He shifted his gaze from the center to the other criminals (bandits? He still wasn’t sure how to refer to them in his head. Gang members?) gathered around the square.

There weren’t as many as he would have suspected, maybe 10-ish. There were a few others stationed around the crowd, clearly positioned to stop anyone from escaping—a person with very short hair and dark skin, a very buff woman, and, most notably: a young man with curly black hair and a bright red mask.

“The Red Bullet,” he heard Amma breathe next to him, and felt his breath catch in his throat. He’d seen that masked face before, on who-knew how many wanted posters, second probably only to the Dark Bandit himself. And if he was here, that meant—

And yes, there he was, the final member of the most infamous trio of the Dark Bandit’s crew, scraping at the ground with the tip of his foot from where he stood, slightly off to the side. In person, he looked much younger, wide eyes peering over his sable-brown mask. Felix watched the infamous thief’s hands twitch at his sides with nervous energy and wondered if the Fox was bored from being still too long.

The few others were also lounging near the edges, but there was one man, with curly silver hair dangling over his eyes and a black mask covering the rest of his face, who seemed to be searching the crowd. He wasn’t aggressive in his movements, just going from person to person, examining each face and moving on, seemingly unsatisfied. Like he was looking for something. For someone.

He seemed to have been working his way across the crowd and had already passed Felix and his family’s side of the crowd, for which Felix was thankful. Something about the silver-haired man terrified him, and he knew for sure that he didn’t want him any closer.

“Storm,” someone called, and Felix jolted with shock as he realized that was the Dark Bandit speaking. His voice wasn’t at all what he’d expected—he’d imagined something a bit colder, pure and clear, like if a snake could speak—but it wasn’t like that at all, rougher and with more of a pinched quality. “We don't have time,” the Dark Bandit continued. He seemed to be addressing the silver-haired man, who scratched at the back of his neck as he shook his head, approaching the Dark Bandit to say something under his breath that Felix couldn’t catch.

The silver-haired man was just turning back to face the crowd when someone said, in a strangled voice, “What exactly is it that you want ?”

Everyone went still, turning to face the source of the sound, which turned out to be the mayor. He’d taken a slight step forward while everyone around him had recoiled, and to his credit, he was meeting the Dark Bandit’s gaze mostly unwaveringly. Minseung, a few feet back, looked up at his father with a concern Felix had never seen before in his dark eyes, and he felt a pang of sympathy for his bully as it mixed with terror for his mayor and village.

“It’s really not your concern,” the Dark Bandit said, taking a step forward and straightening up. His very image seemed to shimmer with just the force of his existence—he was powerfully tall, with a threatening posture, and though his frame was narrow, muscles rippled subtly under his shirt. Felix felt Amma flinch next to him, and was sure he’d done the same.

“Unless you have something you’d like to offer,” the man continued. Felix couldn’t see his face under his mask, but he imagined it was twisted in a kind of knowing smirk, like he was amused by the mayor’s small display of false confidence.

The next few moments felt like some kind of fever dream.

Mayor Jeon turned to look directly at Felix, who froze up staring back at him. The older man strode forward three times till he was standing right in front of the blonde boy—

And it then became apparent that he hadn’t been looking at Felix, and grabbed Seungmin by the bicep and yanked him forward.

Clearly surprised, Seungmin stumbled as he was pulled and sprawled to his hands and knees on the dusty ground. Without thinking, Felix surged forward to help him up and was met by something very solid directly to the face. He reeled back, one hand covering his throbbing (and now bleeding) nose as he landed painfully on the dusty ground.

“The boy has a Blessing,” he heard the mayor say gruffly, and every siren built into Felix’s subconscious went off at once as he tried to push himself back up, head still spinning from the impact of what he now realized had been the mayor’s fist.

“He hasn’t been registered,” the mayor continued. “You c-could get a reward for h-his…”

“No!” There was a flurry of motion from the other side of Felix and he knew it was Amma, knew that his aunt, who was always ready to run, to escape, to avoid confrontation at all costs, was prepared to throw herself in front of one of the most feared men in the eastern hemisphere to protect her son.

Felix pushed himself to his knees, head spinning.

Amma was fighting against Minseung’s hold, and Felix mentally retracted any sympathy he’d held for the older boy just a few moments ago. Seungmin was still on the ground, stunned.

“Is that him?” came the Dark Bandit’s voice, and Felix painstakingly lifted his head to find the man much, much closer than he’d been. He now also had out a terrifyingly sharp sword that he was pointing directly at Mayor Jeon, who had gone cross-eyed trying to keep sight of it. ( _ So that was why he’d gone silent. _ )

Even with his weapon drawn, the Dark Bandit looked almost bored, lazy, but there was something in the way his eyes kept flicking between Seungmin and the silver-haired man—the one he’d called ‘Storm’—that made Felix sure there was something more to what was going on.  The mayor opened his mouth to say something, but the Dark Bandit flicked the sword minutely and Felix heard the mayor hiss, watched with a slack jaw as a thin line of blood appeared across the older man’s cheek. He swallowed harshly.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” the Dark Bandit said amicably, then jerked his head backward at where Storm was standing, staring in their direction with a grimace. “The boy,” the Dark Bandit continued, eyes traveling again to where Seungmin was kneeling, hands shaking violently, eyes still locked on the floor. “Is it him ?”

Storm took a few steps closer to them, then kneeled in front of Seungmin. Felix watched, frozen, as the silver-haired man gently tapped Seungmin’s chin, who looked up with a jerk, recoiling back.

The silver-haired man’s face seemed to fall, but he remained where he crouched. “What’s your Blessing, kid?” he asked, and something about hearing his voice, or that tone, or _something_ felt like someone had just grabbed a fistful of Felix’s guts and was twisting them as violently as they could.

Seungmin didn’t respond, and Storm turned to look at the mayor, who seemed to take that as permission to speak. He swallowed thickly as he stared at the Dark Bandit’s sword, now steadily positioned against his throat.

“He—he talks to the plants," the mayor began stutteringly. "Can make ‘em—do things. Grow, or m-move, or whatever. Should’ve gotten him registered ages ago but my father never wanted to, said he was too young.”

“How old are you, kid?” the Dark Bandit asked, and Seungmin jerked visibly with the surprise of being directly addressed.

“S-sixteen,” he managed to stutter out.

“You could get a good fee for him,” the mayor continued, confidence seemingly bolstered by the fact that he had not yet been gutted like a pig. “Not even just the government if you don't want to deal in that—traders—”

'Traders,’ Felix knew, was just a nicer way of saying 'slavers,’ and the outrage of the suggestion propelled him to his feet as mutters broke out amongst the rest of the crowd. His mouth fell open to protest, but he was beaten to it.

“You really think,” said the Dark Bandit, and suddenly the quality of his voice had changed. It froze Felix anew, icy and threatening, and he watched the blood drain from the mayor’s face as he realized his mistake.

“That I,” continued the criminal, “of all people, would want to get a reward for trading in someone with a Blessing.” He lifted the hand that wasn't holding the sword and seemed to grow a foot as he did so. The whole village watched with bated breath and the mayor looked on the verge of tears as the bandit flung his empty hand towards Jeon's face, letting the tip of his sword dig gently into the skin between the mayor's eyebrows.

But the trickle of blood that appeared there was the last of anyone's concern, for in the bandit's outstretched hand had appeared what looked like a miniature black hole, or a small rip in reality. The only thing Felix could think to describe it as was a ball of darkness. It seemed to eat away at the edges of the world that remained, growing until it was the size of the Dark Bandit's fist, twisting and swaying in the air in a way that was nearly hypnotic. Felix did not want to think what would happen if that darkness, writhing and stretching and seeming barely contained by the criminal's outstretched palm, reached the mayor's skin. He imagined it eating away at the man's flesh like airborne acid, and squeezed his eyes shut.

The silence that rang around the square was borderline deafening.

“Remember the company you keep.”

Felix snapped his eyes open again just in time to watch the Dark Bandit close his hand into a fist as the small ball of whatever-that-was vanished. The mayor shook with relief, eyes flitting between the blade still hovering at his throat and the Dark Bandit's fist. His mouth remained decidedly closed.

The young man that had caught Felix and his family as they’d tried to escape suddenly piped up, moving from where he’d still been leaning lazily against the fountain to step a little closer to the Dark Bandit. The dark eyes peering over his mask were shooting daggers at the mayor’s crouched form. “Cha—sir,” he rectified quickly, “even if he’s not the one we were looking for, don’t you think we should still bring him with us?” He cast another sparing look towards Mayor Jeon. “Better than letting someone else find him later. Especially if they’re keen on getting him registered now.”

Felix let his hand fall from his bloody nose, rage and protectiveness over his cousin finally overtaking his paralyzing fear. In a burst of adrenaline and protectiveness, he felt his body move as if of its own accord as he pushed himself in between Seungmin and Storm.

The silver-haired man took several steps back in surprise, standing up from where he’d previously been squatting in front of Seungmin. Felix took quick, momentary pride in the fact that he was slightly taller than the bandit, and met his gaze even though the younger boy’s hands were shaking in curled fists at his side. Something about Storm's dark eyes framed with thick lashes was horribly, hauntingly familiar, and it was making every single one of Felix's internal organs recoil in fear. It was all he could do to stand his ground.

“Leave him alone,” he stuttered pathetically, trying to shield as much of Seungmin’s body with his own as possible. Still maintaining eye contact with Storm, he saw the silver-haired man’s eyes widen, mouth twitching under his face mask. Felix flinched, expecting another punch, and lifted a hand to wipe at the now-crusting blood left on his face, bracing himself.

But no attack came.

In fact, Storm didn't acknowledge him beyond that, just let out a soft “Oh” and stared for a few moments before turning to face the Dark Bandit.

“It’s him,” he said.

Felix felt ice shoot down as his spine as every eye in the clearing turned to fix on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu on twitter :) i also might make a curious cat if u want to ask questions <3 i love u and i hope ur all having a good day!!


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was a thick silence that lasted for what seemed like an eternity. Felix felt like lead was being pumped through his veins, and he dropped his vision to Seungmin, who was still frozen on the ground, staring up at him with wide eyes, an unspoken question shaking in his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for ur kind comments so far!! its rlly lovely to hear ppl r invested in this little story :') updates every sunday! love u all <333

“Wh—what?” Felix stammered. His eyes darting around the clearing, looking for some phantom saving grace, but everyone looked down, avoiding him. Even Storm looked away, instead turning to the Dark Bandit, who was the only person still looking at Felix, gaze intense and thoughtful.

“You’re sure?” he asked, and this time it was Felix who was forced to look away, squirming under the weight of the criminal’s attention. Storm nodded and Felix shuddered, mind swimming with endless possibilities of exactly what he was being confirmed to be.

There was a thick silence that lasted for what seemed like an eternity. Felix felt like lead was being pumped through his veins, and he dropped his vision to Seungmin, who was still frozen on the ground, staring up at him with wide eyes, an unspoken question shaking in his face. Felix felt his lips fall open as if ready to say something, but there was no sound waiting to emerge. It felt like he was choking on every breath he took, and he could barely process the fact that the game of Capture the Flag had only been this afternoon, had only been a few hours previous. It felt like a lifetime ago.

(It felt like this lifetime was ending.)

“So,” came the Dark Bandit’s pinched voice finally, finally, “here’s what’s going to happen.”

Felix lifted his eyes once more, relieved when he found the Dark Bandit no longer looking at him. The taller man’s dark gaze was instead fixated once more on the cowering mayor, who looked up as if surprised to be addressed again.

“I assume you’ve heard the stories,” the Dark Bandit continued, and here his eyes scrunched up as if his lip was curling in distaste—though towards the mayor or towards what he’d just said, Felix wasn’t sure. “If you would rather that don’t happen to your city and everyone here, I’d recommend you do as I say.”

There was a snort. A quick glance around confirmed it had come from the blonde-haired woman still leaning against the fountain at the center of the clearing, mouth twitching under her deep blue mask. The Dark Bandit’s eye twitched, but he didn’t acknowledge her beyond that.

“I want no misconceptions,” he continued as if there had been no interruption. “There will be no traders involved.” If looks could kill, Mayor Jeon would have been incinerated on the spot. “We don’t deal in that.” A long silence. “But labor is always appreciated.” He looked from Felix to Seungmin. “And we’re not in the business of leaving Blesseds in environments like this.”

While Felix was still trying to wrap his brain around what that meant, Amma yanked herself out of a stunned Minseung’s grasp and stumbled forward towards the Dark Bandit, who blinked in surprise. “Please,” she gasped. “You can’t take him—either of them—my boys, please, please—”

Her voice broke on the word, and she bowed her head, imploring. The Dark Bandit lowered his sword and cocked his head as he examined her, hands clasped before her as if in prayer.

“They're your children?” he asked, a lilt to his words as if he was just on the brink of considering it, of letting everything be as it was, of allowing this day to fade into some forgotten nightmare.

“My—my son,” she whispered as her eyes darted to Seungmin, “and my—my nephew.” Felix grabbed her wrist as she stood beside him trembling. He felt her pulse against his fingers and wondered if this was the last chance either of them would get to know proof of their lives.

“They’ve done nothing wrong,” she continued, voice breaking, “please—”

“That's not how the world sees it,” the Dark Bandit interrupted, leaning forward.

He paused for a moment, then said in a surprisingly gentle tone that made Felix feel sick to his stomach, “I really am sorry.”

The next several moments, Felix could only describe as a blur. All the other members of the Dark Bandits gang (or what _ever_ they’re supposed to call it) seemed to understand immediately, and before Felix could even swallow past the lump in his throat, he was being roughly grabbed by the bandit who’d first caught them and hauled towards the rest of them.

He thought out of his periphery he could see someone else grabbing Seungmin, maybe Storm, he wasn’t sure, but all he knew was that he was kicking and yelling with all his might. At his other side, there was a blur of red, then suddenly the black-masked bandit had his arms in a vice grip while someone else lifted his legs easily off the ground.

All the while in the background was the most devastating yell he’d ever heard, and he knew that it was Amma, her throat raw with desperation. He couldn’t help but duck his head from it, not wanting to see the gaze he knew wasn't locked on him, that he might have been her blood but he was never her son. For the smallest moment, he allowed his mind to drift to his own mother, let himself wonder if she would feel grief upon seeing this.

Then he squeezed his eyes shut and banished the thought from his mind, fighting against the criminal’s grip once again. There was all sorts of yelling and movement going on in the background of his tightly closed eyelids, but oddly enough he smelled no smoke, no blood. Maybe the razings would happen after he and Seungmin had been taken and—what? Killed? Sold? He’d heard what the Dark Bandit had told Amma, but the word of a criminal and a murderer meant nothing and he couldn’t help but expect with certainty that they were both going to die.

He flung his head backward and connected with something else solid, which gave a very irritated yell. The bandit holding his arms and torso slung an elbow in a chokehold around Felix’s neck, digging into his adam’s apple as he paused for a moment. “Would you quit _squirming_ ,” he hissed, eyes tight below his dark bangs.

Felix spat up towards the criminal’s too-close face with as much force as he could muster. Then there was a blinding pain against the back of his head, and everything went black.

When he woke up, there was a steady throbbing at the base of his skull. He grimaced, trying to shift positions with his eyes still closed and wondering why his bed was suddenly so uncomfortable.

There was a soft click, then a smooth voice right by his head said, “Hey, he's up.”

Felix's eyelashes fluttered open and he groaned, his headache screaming in protest as light flooded his senses. Lifting a hand to cover his brow, he pushed himself to his elbows, still not entirely sure what was going on.

Finally, his eyes adjusted to the afternoon sun and his gaze locked on the figure squatted before him, who could not more obviously be the Red Bullet. The famous sniper. Credited with the deaths of hundreds of civilians and government officials. Red mask no longer covering his face but instead draped around his neck and chin as he smiled amicably down at Felix.

Felix remembered everything all of a sudden and his pulse immediately sped up as he tried to push himself away from the young man. He froze as he found himself staring down the silver barrel of a gun and realized that the clicking he'd heard upon waking must have been the safety coming off.

He gulped loudly. The Red Bullet winked, then jerked his head to the side as if gesturing to someone there. “Ch—Storm, c’mere, if you wouldn't mind?” To Felix, he added. “No stress. I won't shoot you. Unless you try to run. We're not really in the business of tying people up, too much work.”

Felix nervously let his eyes move from the weapon to where the red-clothed man had gestured. To his surprise, there he saw Seungmin, seemingly unhurt but evidently shaken, leaning against a tree as the black-masked bandit who'd first caught them talked to him with what seemed like enthusiasm inappropriate for the situation. Also near Seungmin was the silver-haired bandit, the one they had all called Storm, and he looked up when the Red Bullet called him. His silver bangs and mask obscured almost all of his face, but Felix could still tell that something happened every time the bandit’s eyes fell on the younger boy. He didn't know what Storm was thinking, but he was sure that it scared him, whatever it was.

Felix looked away from Storm almost on instinct, choosing instead to examine their surroundings. Sunlight was dappling the leaf-strewn ground, and the small clearing they were sitting in seemed to be fairly empty besides Felix, Seungmin, the three bandits, and two horses who were standing idly a few yards away. They seemed to be in the forest—or at least, a forest. It looked an awful lot like the forest directly outside of Felix's village but he knew that same forest extended for miles to both the north and the west, and he had no clue how long he'd been unconscious for.

Speaking of which—he raised a hand to the back of his head, where he could just remember feeling a blow before the world went dark and where the source of the pain now seemed to be. His hand came back crusted with partially dried blood, and he let a hiss of pain whistle past his teeth, praying there would be no permanent damage.

“Sorry about that,” the Red Bullet said, gun motionless even as he looked at Felix's blood-covered hand with a sympathetic wince. “We had to get out of there fast and you weren't cooperating—no hard feelings?”

Felix just stared at him. He was still pointing a gun at Felix's head, had just participated in the kidnapping of Felix and his cousin and had probably helped do even worse to what was left of their village. 'No hard feelings.’ He wanted to laugh.

Instead, he pressed his lips together in an effort to collect himself before saying, “Did you—k-kill the rest of them?”

The young raven-haired man gave an almost comical double-take. “Who? The civilians? Course not. What's the point in that?”

Felix just stared at him through narrowed eyes, wanting so desperately to believe him but unable to be trusting of someone he still only saw as an extension of the gun he held. “I don't kn-know—what was the point of taking us? What are you gonna do?”

His gaze shot to Seungmin, who was still leaning against the tree with his eyes wide as the black-masked bandit prattled on. Felix swallowed. “S-sell me if you want. But Seungmin—h-he deserves better, please—”

“We're not gonna sell you, kid,” interrupted the Red Bullet, lips twitching upwards into an elfish grin. He let the gun fall, the muzzle pointing idly down at the ground as he stretched, cracking his back. His face was transfixingly beautiful, and it was hard to believe that he was really a cold-blooded murderer when his smile was so bright.

The young man's grin slid to an easy smirk. “Besides, you're kinda scrawny, kid. Not sure you'd go for much.”

“ _ Minho, _ ” Storm said, smacking the Red Bullet’s shoulder reproachfully and startling Felix as he was reminded of the silver-haired man's presence. “Shut up.”

He looked like he was about to say something more, but then his dark eyes slid to Felix again. He seemed to swallow his words, looking down nervously. Felix was slightly distracted by the sudden name drop, and it struck him that he was sitting just inches away from someone who was wanted all over Korea, looking at his unmasked face and his real name still ringing in Felix’s ears.

_ Minho _ . It was jarringly human.

Felix dragged himself back to reality, forcing himself to look at Storm. “Then—what are you gonna do with us?”

Storm ran a hand through his hair, silver curls bending then bouncing back as he released them with a sigh. “I think you probably have the wrong idea of what's going on. Of who we are.”

“Murderers,” Felix spat without hesitation, though his voice shook against his will. Something about the way Storm had just ruffled his hair was so painfully familiar. It felt like fire ants were racing up and down his spinal columns. “And th-thieves,” he continued. He could feel his lower lip trembling, and cursed it silently.

The Red Bullet—or Minho, he mentally corrected himself—seemed to be going through an internal battle, eyes sparkling with mirth as he tried to fight a smile off his face and ultimately lost. “You're cute, kid,” he said with a sigh before leaning back and crossing his legs. Felix’s sputtered protest went ignored. “You gonna tell him?” Minho asked, obviously addressing Storm.

The silver-haired man flung the sniper a furtive glare, but nodded slowly, still avoiding Felix’s eye. Felix watched him suspiciously. “Tell me—what? What's going on?”

Storm folded his fingers together. A few feet away, Seungmin was still looking dazed, but a little less scared, hesitantly replying to some of the younger bandit’s ramblings.

“Don't… freak out, okay?” Storm said. Felix scrunched up his nose. Isn't it a bit late for that?

Storm took a deep breath, then lifted his hands to his black face mask and dragged it down to his neck, revealing a prominent nose and a soft mouth, and the revelation of why everything about the silver-haired man was so chillingly familiar struck Felix like a bullet to the chest.

He was staring into a face he hadn't seen for 7 years, back when those lips were always quirked into a dimpled smile, when that hair had been black and not silver like he'd aged so prematurely, when all the features had been softer and younger. But they were still the same.

“Lix,” he said hesitantly. The nickname hurt more than a slap would. “You remember? Its—”

.

_ “Chris!” Felix pouted in protest, shielding his face as the older boy scooped at the water with cupped hands, sending it flying towards Felix. “Stop it!” _

_ Chris just laughed. They were both standing thigh-deep in the ocean, Australian beach to one side of them and what looked like an endless stretch of blue and horizon to the other. It was one of those sticky summer days where it felt like you would sweat your whole skin off, where the children get caught trying to raid the ice supplies and get sent to cool themselves in the ocean instead—exactly what Felix and Chris were doing right then. _

_ Felix pushed his sweat-dampened bangs off his face, looking up at the older boy. Felix was ten, and Chris twelve-almost-thirteen, and Chris might as well have been a celebrity for all Felix cared. Chris was older, and taller, and seemed to know everything. Sometimes Felix liked to imagine that Chris was  _ actually _ his older brother, or cousin, even. It wasn't so much that he wanted to be related to him, but Felix just knew that if Chris lived with them everything would be so much better. _

_ (Chris would push away Felix's father's fists, he thought. If Chris stayed with them, maybe his mother would not always feel on the verge of breaking. Maybe Felix wouldn't feel like he was always about to burst, even when he wasn't sure why.) _

_ But Chris wasn’t his real family, and he didn't live with him—he lived with his grandmother across the busy town, and Felix had had to teach himself to be satisfied with just a friend. A good friend, anyhow—a friend that would catch his wrists when his anger got too much and he started feeling too much of his father in him than could keep his blood at an acceptable temperature, a friend that looked over the bruises on the younger boy's jaw with a click of his tongue and no judgment. _

_ (A friend that sometimes, Felix thought, he wouldn't mind giving a kiss—on the cheek, or something, he didn’t really know how kissing worked anyway—but he kept that to himself. Chris was older and cooler and  _ better _ , and besides, Felix's father already said enough awful things about him. Even by ten, he could tell what he was and wasn't supposed to say out loud.) _

_ “It’s still too hot out,” Felix complained, swiping at the surface of the water and ignoring Chris’s little laugh at his petulance. “I'm gonna explode.” _

_ “Don't be so dramatic,” Chris. “Plus, I know what can cool you down.” _

_ Felix turned up his nose, looking at the other boy out of the corner of his eye. “What?” _

_ He'd barely gotten the word out before he was being tackled into the cool water, yelling in garbled protest as his ratty shirt got fully drenched and scrunching his eyes shut before his face went under. When they both reemerged, Chris was cackling like a maniac, black hair spiky and pressed flat to the left with seawater. _

_ “Not funny!” Felix sputtered. _

_ “It's a little funny,” Chris said, then reached out and tousled Felix's wet hair before running a hand through his own. “Loosen up, little man.” _

_ Felix felt his cheeks redden in embarrassment, and looked away with a pout as Chris started laughing again. _

_ Felix would never admit it (because it was cheesy and shit), but Chris’s laugh was one of his favorite sounds. _

_ He'd known Chris for as long as it seemed he could remember. Felix had always known he wasn't like the other kids— _ they _ didn't show up to the dirty little schoolhouse with split lips every week, they didn't lose their tempers in the same way Chris always had to help stop him from doing, they all had friends their own age. He was never enough like them to feel included. Always the strange boy, the one who couldn't breathe right sometimes, associated with the house by the beach no one talked about because the occupants were a ghost woman and a devil man and their fairy of a child. But to Felix, it never mattered, because he had Chris. He always had. _

_ Which is why when all of a sudden he didn't anymore, it felt like his whole world had collapsed on itself. _

_ When— _

.

“Chris.”

His childhood friend finally, finally, met his eye—

—and then there was no denying it. That same glimmer of I-know-something-you-don't, a child forced to assume an adult’s role before they're ready. The heartbreak Felix had spent 7 years getting over.

“Where—what happened to you?”

And he felt himself break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/jisqulsh) and [tumblr](https://jisquish.tumblr.com)


	4. IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix was hugging Chris before he even realized he’d moved forward to wrap his arms around the older boy and bury his face in his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo woo crossing 10k w this chapter !! enjoy <3
> 
> also if it wasnt clear by now — im using countries like korea and australia and will use others in future chapters as ref bc im too lazy to world-build my own geography and country names but outside of that its completely an alternate universe in terms of government and shit so dont like . drag me LOL its not meant 2 b realistic its abt magic ok <3 luv u

Felix was hugging Chris before he even realized he’d moved forward to wrap his arms around the older boy and bury his face in his neck. He still felt a flinch of guilt from the comforting touch, and tried to stamp down the thought. His father’s bones were still buried somewhere in the back of his mind, especially when it came to Chris. He ignored them.

“You’re—in Korea?” he asked desperately when they pulled apart, ignoring the couple tears he could feel tracing their way stubbornly down his cheek. “Since when? What happened—I thought you were dead, I thought you got sold, I thought—”

“It’s a long story,” Chris interrupted, grabbing Felix’s shoulder to stabilize him. “I’m so, so sorry, Lix, and I’ll explain when I can, but the rest will be back soon and we have to leave—”

“But you’re—you’re in Korea? You’re with—Chris it’s been  _ seven years _ —”

“I know, I know, and I promise everything will make a lot more sense soon but I’ve been looking for you for so long and we’re really not safe here and you and your—cousin?” He looked over at Seungmin, who the other black-masked bandit was helping to his feet at the moment. “—need to come with us before we can properly explain anything.”

“Hold on,” Minho interrupted, shaking his hands in front of his face like he was trying to shoo away a fly. “My English is okay but not that good, and also—Can we back up to ‘ _ Chris _ ’?”

Felix realized with a jolt that he’d slid into his first language without even thinking about it, despite the fact that he’d had no one to speak it with since he came to live with Seungmin. Chris scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. “My English name,” he explained to Minho, then turned to Felix. “I, uh, go by Chan here.”

Felix felt like the forest floor kept being yanked out from underneath him, like his vision couldn’t quite focus.  _ Chan? _

“Jisung,” Chris called over his shoulder to the younger member, the one who’d first caught Felix and his family. “Are they close?”

“They should be,” the boy—Jisung—said, one arm slung around Seungmin’s shoulders in what seemed to be an effort to hold the younger boy up. Felix noticed with a start that his cousin had a white bandage tied around his thigh that was already soaked through with blood, and he spun to face Chris (or  _ Chan _ , now) and Minho, bristling.

“You hurt him?”

Minho raised his hands in mock surrender. “Not on purpose! You were napping and Justin was in charge of getting that one out—” he gestured to Seungmin, “—and someone in the crowd thought it would be a great idea to try and grab his sword away from him.” At the horrified look on Felix’s face, he quickly added, “Don’t worry, it’s not too deep—should heal up in no time.”

Felix was far from comforted, but he was saved the stress of further conversation by the approaching footsteps of what sounded like a small group of people. Minho, Chan, and Jisung were immediately on guard and Felix all but flung himself out of the way of Minho’s gun, drawn again and pointed unwaveringly towards the source of the sound.

After a moment, the blonde woman who’d been in the square with the rest of them became visible through the dense trees surrounding them, and all three of the bandits relaxed as if they hadn’t just had all their weapons drawn seconds ago.

“Are we ready?” she asked, brushing her hair over her shoulder. It reached almost to her waist, and Felix wondered absent-mindedly why she didn’t just tie it up.

“Yeah,” Chan said. Felix’s throat was very dry.

“What—where are we going?”

“Don’t worry about it right now,” Minho said, clapping the younger boy on the back as he passed him. The force of it sent Felix stumbling forward a little, surprised at the lithe man’s strength. The blonde woman gave Felix a critical once-over, her disdain evident even though only her eyes were showing over her sea-blue mask. 

“C’mon,” she said after a moment, turning away and beckoning. Behind her stood the person with dark skin and buzzed hair Felix had noticed in the town square, and a blonde man with European features. Neither of them spoke. The sable-haired man only offered them a glance, then turned to follow. The other offered Seungmin a small smile, which the younger boy hesitantly returned, before they jogged up to meet the first woman.

Chan walked past Felix, and without thinking, Felix grabbed his hand. It was what he’d always done as a kid when he was panicking, and he was certainly panicking now. Chan looked back at him with surprise, but then smiled gently.

“I know this is… A lot, right now, and I promise I’ll explain later, but right now we don’t have time.” He met Felix’s eyes with intensity. “Are you good to come with? Because I promise, going back to your town will be way, way worse.” He glanced to the side, where Seungmin was standing with Jisung. “That goes for both of you. I’m really sorry to be the one, but we are definitely your best option at the moment and we really need your cooperation if we’re gonna get out of here safe.”

Felix swallowed nervously. His eyes flickered between Chan, who was examining both the younger boys expectantly, and Seungmin, who looked like he was about to faint—but that might have just been the blood loss. Somehow the thought did not soothe Felix’s nerves.

“Are we good?” Chan asked again when neither of them responded. Slowly, Felix nodded, unsure of what else to do. Chris was back, Chris was here, but he was very different—none of the dorky laughs and the softness of childhood, all pursed lips and hard edges and  _ Chan _ now.

But he was still Chris, even amongst all this unfamiliarity, and Felix believed him when he said he was their best option.

Felix, Seungmin, and Jisung followed Chan out of the clearing, almost immediately breaking into a half jog to keep up with the other bandits. This proved instantly difficult for Seungmin if not impossible, whose leg was no longer actively bleeding but still evidently in a great deal of pain. 

“Justin,” Minho said, and the European man ambled over. “Can you stay with him? We’re too big of a group to be moving this slowly.”

Justin nodded wordlessly, ducking under Seungmin’s arm to replace Jisung as a stabilizer to lean against. Every fiber of Felix’s being screamed in protest, but Chan squeezed his hand, leaning in a little closer.

“Justin is one of the best swordsmen I know,” he said lowly, “and as loyal as they come. He won’t let anything happen to your cousin. Promise.”

Felix didn’t even get a chance to protest before they were moving again. As the distance between them and the much slower-moving pair they were leaving to make their own way widened, Felix felt like there was a string connecting Seungmin and him that was stretching till it snapped. Everything was happening so fast, and the most he could do was hold Chan’s hand tightly as they wove their way through trees, trying not to stumble over rocks or weeds as they half-jogged through the forest.

Felix was completely turned around, but he could still tell when they were approaching the edge of the island. The smell of the air changed, from a damper, earthier tree scent to something lighter and saltier. They were getting close to the sea.

“How—where are we going? Why do we have to get out so fast?” Felix asked, head swimming.

Chan passed completely over the first question, replying hesitantly, “We are technically, at the moment, very much on enemy territory.”

“Wha—whose territory?”

Practically skipping along next to them, Jisung replied, “When you’re traveling with people wanted for like, a lot of murder and theft, there’s barely anywhere that isn’t enemy territory.”

Minho cuffed the back of the younger boy’s neck. “Don’t scare him before we even have a chance to explain everything,” the red-clad sniper grumbled, and Jisung hid a smile as he jogged up ahead to bother someone else.

“He’s right,” Minho admitted after a moment with a head tilt, “but more specifically, we’re on Park’s territory, which we’re not supposed to be on  _ ever _ , so we need to get off before they realize we’re here and start asking for things we can’t give them.”

“Like what?”

“Eh. Depends on the day. Usually gold. They like acting like we owe them something by them not always telling the Crown where we are. As if it matters. Crown couldn’t find us anyway.”

While Felix tried to figure out what the hell that meant, they broke through the edge of the forest onto the beach, where the rest of the group was waiting by a caravan and about 8 horses, two of whom were attached to the wagon.

“Is this how you guys…. get around?” Felix asked Jisung, forgetting his terror in a moment as he stared with unveiled awe at the elegant creatures. He’d seen Jeju horses before, of course, having lived on the island for which they were named for nearly 5 years, but these were clearly of a higher caliber and well-taken care of. Strong muscles rippled under shiny coats, and a nearby brown one whinnied impatiently as they approached.

Jisung grimaced. “Yeah, usually. The caravan is mostly for supplies, but usually at least 4 of us ride in them. It’s tough bringing too many horses with us since we’re going overseas so much.”

“How do you get overseas?”

Jisung winked. “You’ll see. We’re not planning to stay in Jeju long. We were mostly here looking for  _ you _ , which was risky on its own cause half the island’s run by Park.”

Felix blinked. “Wait, why were you looking for me? Was it Chris—Chan? And no one in my village has ever even mentioned anyone named Park, the mayor is Jeon, what do you—”

“Jisung!” a rough voice barked, and Jisung turned to look at a very muscled woman standing by the caravan.

“Soon,” Jisung promised over his shoulder to Felix as he went to go see what she needed. “I swear.”

Felix started after him in dismay, then turned back to the blonde woman, unsure of what to do. She solved his dilemma for him by sticking out her hand.

“I’m Sol,” she said shortly, and he took it with a sigh of relief, trying not to wince at her crushing grip. She offered no name beyond that.

“Uh, Felix,” he replied.

“I know.”

“Oh.”

“Chan’s talked about you plenty. We weren’t expecting your cousin to join us, but the more the merrier, I guess.” Felix blinked in confusion. “S’pose if you’re gonna be with us you should sort of know what’s happening,” she continued in a very businesslike manner. “You already know Chan, obviously, and you’ve met Minho and Jisung, the court jesters.” Felix nodded, not sure whether he should laugh or not. “That there is Mena,” she said, pointing to the dark-skinned person she’d been walking with. “They don’t speak. You’ll probably want to learn some sign. But they’re smarter than all of us, and don’t forget it.”

Felix nodded again, eyes a little wide.

“And then you’ve seen Justin, he’s the one accompanying your cousin. And you met Bin-ah. Kinda.”

“Who?” Felix asked, but she had already moved on. Evidently, she was not the type of person to do anything slowly, even thinking.

“The rest you’ll meet later,” she continued, already setting a brisk pace down the beach towards the caravans and the rest of the group. Felix stared blankly after her for a moment, then scrambled to follow.

She seemed to have appointed herself as Felix’s unofficial tour guide, and Felix latched on, hovering about nervously. She was quite tall, and Felix was short for his age, and she felt almost like a kindly aunt or older sister (despite one that could cut his head off in a moment) showing him the ropes.

“Where—are we leaving?”

She looked at him blankly, as if she’d forgotten he was there for a moment. “Yeah—of course. We can’t stay. ”

“Because of Park?” Felix asked quickly. “Who even is he?” He tripped over a knot of wood on the ground as he struggled to keep up with her long-legged stride, stumbling after her.

She gave him a sidelong glance, lips twitching with repressed amusement. “I don’t assume they’d bother you all much. Easier to let the puppets act like they have power.”

“Puppets?”

“What do you think your mayor’s purpose even was?”

Felix blinked. “I don’t know, he… keeps order, makes laws and stuff. Keeps the town safe.”

She snorted. “He might make the laws for those of you in the town, but he doesn’t control anything. Jeju mostly belongs to two warlords, Park and Kim. Neither are very combative—definitely not enough to bother with the crown—but Park likes to act like he’s even on the level to fuck with us.”

Felix shook his head like a dog shaking himself dry, trying to process everything. “W-warlords?” he asked in confusion, mouth twisting around the word. She tilted her head.

“Not exactly the right term, but they’re not low-level enough to be considered like, gangsters.” Felix furrowed his brow, but she blew past it. “Doesn’t matter, point is, they’re in charge. As is the case with most of the country at this point.”

“The king—”

“ _ Don’t _ get anyone here started on the king,” she interrupted with a snort. “Not yet at least,” she added, offering him a sympathetic glance when he recoiled slightly. “This is probably moving kinda fast. I—sorry. You’re just gonna have to wait a bit, but I promise, everything will make more sense soon.”

Felix just stared at her with wide eyes. She nodded as if he’d given her a response. “Yeah. Okay.”

She turned and kept walking. Felix scrambled after her.

She stopped in front of Chan, who was loading what seemed like firewood and other various supplies into the caravan. He turned, sensing her presence, and smiled encouragingly at Felix when he noticed the younger boy at her side. Felix tried to return it, but his nervous smile probably looked way more like a grimace.

“Are we almost ready?” she asked, fingers drumming nervously on her thigh.

Chan nodded. “Not much to pack up, anyway. We’ll be headed north to the port as soon as Justin and—” He paused, looking at Felix, who swallowed numbly.

“Seungmin,” he said. “His name’s Seungmin.”

“And Seungmin. Soon as they get here.”

“The port?”

“I mean,” Sol said with a small grin, “we didn’t  _ swim _ here.”

For the next while, Felix stood awkwardly next to Chan and the caravan in a nervous silence, picking absentmindedly at the skin by his fingernails as everything bustled around them. As he tried desperately to calm his racing heart, the wind picked up around them, whistling through the seams in Felix’s shirt. After a moment, Chan seemed to notice quite how distressed he was, and placed a comfortingly warm hand on his wrist. Felix looked up in surprise. 

“Hey,” his hyung said gently. “I… I know. I’m really, really sorry, Lix, to spring all this on you and your—and Seungmin like this, but it’s—gonna make sense soon, I hope. I won’t let you get hurt, okay?” Felix took a shallow breath, and nodded. “Okay?” Chan repeated.

“Okay,” Felix echoed blankly, blood rushing slightly less loudly in his ears. But his slight relief was short-lived when Minho approached Chan, elvish features dark.

“It’s been a half-hour,” he said lowly to the silver-haired boy, but Felix still heard it easily. “Justin and the kid should have caught up with us by now.”

Felix felt like his heart had stopped for what must have been the fifth time that day. Chan stiffened visibly. A particularly strong gust of wind almost sent Felix stumbling back.

“Maybe they had to take a break,” Chan said quietly.

Minho bit his lip, shaking his head. “Fox and I went into the forest to see if they were close.” He glanced at Felix uncomfortably. “Found blood. And Justin’s sword.”


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s a lot to risk,” he said slowly, “to go after them—”
> 
> “But you have to!” Felix sputtered out, stumbling forward and questioning his own sanity not for the first time that day.
> 
> The Dark Bandit cocked an eyebrow at him, looking him up and down as if he hadn’t already taken note of his presence. “Excuse you?” he drawled. It seemed like he’d almost be amused, under any other circumstance. “What exactly is it that I have to do, kid?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u like it! on a separate note - woojin singing video 🥺i missed his voice sm what an angel <33

_ “Found blood. And Justin’s sword.” _

There seemed to be an echo, but that was impossible, they were outside in the woods—but still, somehow Minho’s words reverberated around Felix’s skull several times before he could pummel any meaning from them. Chan, on the other hand, seemed to understand instantly, the blood draining from his face as he cast an anxious glance at Felix.

“Fuck,” he said quietly, and Minho pursed his lips. Felix glanced wildly between the two of them as it dawned on him.

“What, they—they’re hurt? They’re gone? What—what happened?” He rounded on Chan, panic bubbling up in his throat. “You said Justin was the best swordsman you knew, you said S-Seungmin would be safe, I—”

“Felix, breathe,” Chan said, grabbing his shoulder and steadying him. “I said what I said, and I was not lying to you. Things happen. They’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know that!” Felix cried shrilly, but Chan had already let go, was already moving away. Felix felt dizzy. If the blood was Seungmin’s—he bit his lip hard.

“C’mon,” Minho mumbled, looking a little awkward. Felix followed him around the caravan towards where Chan had headed off to, mind foggy and trying desperately not to leap to the worst scenario.

Miraculously, he found himself quite effectively distracted when he suddenly found himself about 8 feet from the Dark Bandit.

Unlike most of the remaining gang members, the Dark Bandit still had his mask on and was facing Chan as the silver-haired man relayed the situation to him in a low voice, wringing his hands in front of him nervously. The Dark Bandit’s eyes narrowed, stormy, face strangely expressive even though only a sliver of it was showing.

Chan finished talking, and the other man stood there for a moment, contemplative. His eyes drifted from Chan to Felix, who was surprised enough by the attention to accidentally make eye contact. The two stared at each other for a few tense moments before the bandit glanced back at Chan, brow furrowed.

“It’s a lot to risk,” he said slowly, “to go after them—”

“But you have to!” Felix sputtered out, stumbling forward and questioning his own sanity not for the first time that day.

The Dark Bandit cocked an eyebrow at him, looking him up and down as if he hadn’t already taken note of his presence. “Excuse you?” he drawled. It seemed like he’d almost be amused, under any other circumstance. “What exactly is it that I  _ have _ to do, kid?”

Chan muttered something Felix couldn’t catch, and the Dark Bandit seemed to wave him off, slightly annoyed.

Undeterred, Felix said with a dry throat, “Seungmin—he hasn’t done anything, he shouldn’t even be here—out of the village in the first place—he’s already been hurt, nothing else can happen to him, you have to save him!”

“You don’t get to tell me what I  _ have _ to do,” the Dark Bandit said, words all monotone and dangerous, a dull blade a second away from slipping. Felix felt himself shrink even as it seemed the masked bandit grew. “You’re no one. We saved your life today.”

“You ruined my life today!” Felix spat back, ignoring the racing of his heart and the tears swelling behind his eyes. “And now Seungmin’s in danger because of you —”

“I swear, kid,” the taller man hisses, and suddenly he is much closer and Felix might be imagining it but it sort of feels like there’s a blade a hair-width from his throat but all he can look at is the dark eyes, narrowed in loathing, four inches from his own. “If you say one more god damn word I will leave you  _ right _ the fuck here for the—”

“Changbin!”

Both young men froze, glaring at each other as Chan’s voice rang around the clearing. Felix was the first to look away and did so gladly, taking a nervous step back as his gaze flitted to Chan. He did not look happy.

“We’re going,” Chan said, a little quieter. “They have Justin too, and we’re not leaving a Blessed with them. We don’t do that shit.”

The Dark Bandit—whose name was  _ Changbin _ ? —pursed his lips in a ferocious scowl as the two had some sort of invisible battle of wills. Felix was amazed at Chan’s bravery—had he been faced with someone as intimidating as the dark-haired man, he’d have crumbled in a second. He  _ had _ done just that.

After a few tense moments, Changbin swore viciously, said, “ _Fine_ ,” and stalked away. Felix could see his hands trembling at his side, furling into fists and unfurling as he seemed to try and get his temper under control before disappearing into one of the caravans.

Felix was about to turn to Chan and breathe a thanks when Chan said grimly “You shouldn’t provoke him like that.”

Felix spluttered.

“I shouldn’t— him? Seungmin is—We—You all practically kidnapped me today, us, I—”

“Felix,” Chan said, and his calming tone combined with the hand he laid on Felix’s shoulder was so jarringly familiar that he stilled, shocked at the deja vu. The wind was picking up around them, the horses seeming to look at Felix’s burst of panic and pawing nervously at the ground.

“I know you think you know about him—about any of this— ” he added, gesturing around the makeshift camp, “—but we’re not the type of people in those stories. I didn’t leave to become a murderer. I never would.”

Felix blinked at him. “But—you’re— wanted, you’re criminals… “

Chan nodded. “We are wanted. For theft, vandalism, treason against the Crown, I image. But killing hundreds of innocents? Burning down cities? I won’t say I’ve never killed, but  _ that— _ it isn’t us. No one here is that kind of person.”

Felix took a shuddery breath, eyes darting around. It made sense, and it was comforting to hear that his closest childhood friend hadn’t gotten caught up in a gang of murderers, but he still felt that he could barely trust them.

Chan seemed to read his mind. “I know it’s a lot to take in. Like I said, we’ll be able to explain more later when we’re settled down, but right now I need you to listen to me, okay? Trust me. Just for now. I will answer everything you have to ask later, okay?” Felix stared at him. “Do you think you can do that, Lix?” Chan asked firmly.

Felix nodded.

“Great,” Chan said with a click of his tongue. “Let’s go figure out how we’re gonna save Justin and your cousin, then, huh?”

Sol had followed Changbin into the caravan, along with the buff woman who Chan quietly pointed out as being a Thai woman called Faa. Chan steered Felix over to a fallen tree to sit down where Felix nervously intertwined his fingers together, staring at the ground.

“Has this ever … happened before?” he asked carefully. “Like. You guys know how to—to deal with this, right?”

“What, a kidnapping?” Felix nodded. Chan scratched at the back of his neck, grimacing. “Not… not really. At least in a long while. And most of the people we tangle with aren’t really in the business of taking, like, hostages, you know? Park’s just got a bigger ego. He wants to feel superior to us, and to Changbin. He’s definitely tried this shit before, just never … succeeded.”

“But because Seungmin was hurt...”

“Justin was probably held up trying to protect him,” Chan finished, nodding. “Usually he’d never have been taken by any of Park’s men.”

Felix pursed his lips. “So what do we do?”

Chan tilted his head, meeting Felix’s eyes as an unfamiliarly manic smirk painted his lips. “We go after ‘em, course.”

“We’ve never actually been to their… area, or whatever you’d call it,” a slightly familiar-looking boy with curly dark hair and nervous eyes explained to Felix several hectic minutes later, once Faa, Sol, Chan, Minho, and a dour-faced Changbin had sent Felix away.

“Area.”

The boy shrugged. “Something like it. Main base, I guess? They probably have some sort of small village-type thing where the members live and Park conducts business and takes guests … stuff.” He trailed off, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“And that’s where Seungmin and Justin would have been taken?” Felix prompted.

The boy nodded, avoiding eye contact. He looked very nervous to be around Felix, a muscle twitching inside his cheek.

“And what do we—what are we meant to do?” Felix asked, glancing around awkwardly for Chris, or even Minho or Sol, at least someone who would talk.

“ _ You _ aren’t meant to do anything,” he replied, taking Felix aback. The boy reddened slightly, as if embarrassed at his own daring, and continued, “We’ll go in and try and see if we can offer them anything in exchange. We won’t fight unless we have to. And you'll probably just stay here.”

“He’s my cousin,” Felix said. “I’m helping.”

“You’ll do more harm than good."

“You don’t know that. You’ve only just met me.”

“I’m good at reading people,” he sniffed.

“Oh yeah?”

The boy cocked an eyebrow at him, seeming to gain confidence as the conversation progressed. “Yeah? You’re probably, what, seventeen? Eighteen? But with a weird age complex—dependant, the way you talk about Chan and your cousin but equally mature, so probably you have an estranged relationship with your parents or they’re dead, or both. You don’t speak Korean like a Korean so you’re a foreigner, you don’t have European mannerisms so probably Australian as your accent isn’t from anywhere else in Asia. You’re light on your feet but not the most observant and—” he lifted a hand from which was dangling Felix’s cross necklace and  _ how the fuck did he get that _ “—you’re very easily distracted.”

Felix snatched at the beloved jewelry, feeling his ears heat up. “You knew I was Australian and about my parents because of Chris, piss off,” he mumbled, choosing to put the necklace in his shirt pocket instead of back around his neck as he glanced warily at the boy in front of him. The boy shrugged with half an impish grin—spiel over, he seemed to have retracted slightly into his shyer self, though he did seem a bit more relaxed now.

“I’m allowed to use my resources,” he said.

“How did you even—?” Felix gestured lamely to his neck. “And when ?”

“Jeongin!” came an interrupting shout, and Felix looked over his shoulder to find the woman named Faa standing some feet away. “Cap wants you, we’re heading out in a sec.” She cast a curious look at Felix. “And tell your new friend to stick with Chan.”

The boy, whose name was apparently Jeongin, nodded nervously and stood up, pulling up a sable-brown mask that had been hanging around his neck and instantly Felix understood why he’d looked familiar—he was the Fox, who he’d seen earlier in the clearing with the nervous hands. As in one of the most legendary pickpockets and con artists in Korea.

Felix certainly was meeting a lot of celebrities today.

“Chris is probably somewhere with the Captain,” he said. “Don’t make him angry again. And it…” Trailing off, he gave Felix a curious look, narrow eyes glinting in the afternoon sun. “Interesting to meet you, Felix hyung.”

He hurried off, leaving Felix wondering just how young someone like that could even be. A hand clapped Felix’s shoulder, startling him, and he looked over to see Chan looking at him with an unreadable expression. “You ready?”

Felix swallowed hard. "I can come?"

"Would I be able to keep you here?"

Felix gave him half a smile. “Probably not.”

“That’s the spirit,” the silver-haired boy said grimly, then added in English. “Let’s go fuck shit up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is a bit of a filler chapter but comments r greatly appreciated <333 would love to know ur thoughts on where the story's going!!!


	6. VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It felt like static was zooming up and down Felix’s skeleton, feet full of pins and needles and vision not quite in this dimension, everything a little too hollow and saturated as his head swam. This is for Seungmin, he reminded himself, taking a deep breath of the light wind through the forest in an effort to calm himself. You can’t worry about being overwhelmed right now. This is happening for Seungmin. Seungmin will be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im v late posting but it is still technically sunday in my timezone!! just a heads up i wont b posting next week, am crazy busy w senior year highschool stuff but i'll be back sunday after next <3

The Dark Bandit—Changbin? Felix supposed he should start thinking of him in his head as Changbin, but it felt weird —did not want Felix to come with. That much was evident.

Felix felt Chan’s hand tighten on his shoulder as he glanced nervously between the two. “I’m not leaving him at camp,” Chan said, voice quiet but filled with meaning, and Felix held his breath. He was very new to this power dynamic, but it seemed Chan had a lot more say in the group than it might seem, and he and Changbin held eye contact for a few tense moments before a muscle twitched in Changbin’s cheek and he shrugged, turning away.

“Fine,” he said over his shoulder, beckoning to Minho. “But get him a sword, and make sure he stays with you.”

Felix let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. “A sword?” he said curiously, looking up at Chan. The silver-haired boy bit at his thumb, nodding slowly. “You can take Minho’s spare. It’s a little clunky, but you won’t be using it anyway, it doesn’t matter.”

Felix bit his tongue to hold back the protest at carrying a blade. _You don’t have to actually use it_ , he reminded himself petulantly as he accepted the weapon—a long, thin steel blade with a handle wrapped in red fabric. It just felt _wrong_ in his hands, too hot and angry, like he could already taste the sting of the metal in his own skin. 

He sheathed it in the contraption Chan had helpfully strapped around his midriff, silently promising himself he would never use it.

Minho and Jisung, it seemed, had already gone ahead to scout. They seemed to generally be in charge of stealth-related operations in the team, which Felix supposed made sense—he remembered with a slight shudder how Jisung had dropped down from the roofs in front of Felix and his family earlier that day. God, how had it only been earlier that day? It felt like a century ago.

He was once again yanked from his thoughts when Chan tapped his shoulder, unceremoniously shoving what looked like a piece of black fabric into Felix’s hand. When he uncrumpled it, he found it to be a face mask, like the one the rest of them wore to hide their identity.

Something about it felt all too criminal, but he pulled it over his mouth without judgment. Unused to the feeling, his breathing felt hindered, but he supposed that might have just been the panic as he followed Chan away from the camp, where Jeongin, Sol, and Mena were staying behind in case something went wrong.

It felt like static was zooming up and down Felix’s skeleton, feet full of pins and needles and vision not quite in this dimension, everything a little too hollow and saturated as his head swam.  _ This is for Seungmin _ , he reminded himself, taking a deep breath of the light wind through the forest in an effort to calm himself. _You can’t worry about being overwhelmed right now. This is happening for Seungmin. Seungmin will be okay_.

He had to be okay.

They walked for about five minutes before Jisung came tearing through the woods towards them, movements impressively quiet through the dense brush. Felix froze up, grip tightening on Chan’s forearm, ready to turn and flee from whoever, or  _ what _ ever, was chasing Jisung, but then the young boy came to a sudden and smooth halt, simply to say, “We think we found it. It’s about half a mile north of here. Just looks like a lord’s little village, gated entrance, but there can’t be anyone else in this area, right?”

Changbin shook his head. “It’s got to be Park.”

“There are guards posted by the gate, as expected,” Jisung continued with a nod. “Minho’s back there keeping a lookout, he didn’t show himself. They’re armed.”

“As expected.”

“It’s probably best for you to talk to them than to try and fight our way through it,” Jisung added, nervously messing with his hands. “If—you don’t mind my saying, sir,” he added as a hasty afterthought.

“Yeah,” the Dark Bandit breathed out, more of a sigh than a word, teeth worrying at his lip. It was the most humanity Felix had seen in him yet. “God, I hate this shit. Let’s just get it over with.”

It was the shortest half-mile Felix had ever walked. Too soon, Minho was waving from a tree as they approached, dropping down soundlessly, a red smudge with a too-relaxed expression for the situation.

“Just about 80 yards that way,” he said softly, jerking his head in the direction they were heading. “Didn’t wanna approach without you, ‘course.”

Changbin just nodded, turning to the group. “Faa, hyungs, you stay up front with me.” Felix blinked in surprise at the honorific—both at the fact that Minho and Chan were older than him (??), and at the familiarity with which he addressed the two men. “Jisung, stay with him,” the criminal added, shooting Felix a slightly distasteful look. Felix glared at him. “ _Don’t_ let him fuck anything up. And don’t speak,” he added, addressing Felix directly for the second bit.

Felix bit back the retort on his tongue and nodded. Jisung slipped a hand into Felix’s and the Australian boy startled at the contact, looking at him with wide eyes to see the other boy shoot Felix a reassuring grin before pulling his own mask over his face. Jisung squeezed Felix’s fingers twice, like a good luck ritual, then started after the rest of the group, swinging their hands between them the way young children sometimes do.

Something about it was strangely calming, like maybe they weren’t about to walk into a warlord’s home. He squeezed Jisung's hand back as a silent thank you, once again surprised at the young bandit’s character.

In the distance, Felix could clearly see a sort of makeshift gate surrounding a thick row of barren trees, behind which Felix could just barely make out the shapes of buildings. Two guards, loosely armored and carrying guns of a type Felix had never seen before, were flanking both sides of the gate to the fence.

As their small group approached, the first noticed, immediately drawing the other’s attention as they both raised their guns in their direction. They'd clearly been expecting them. Calmly, Changbin lifted both hands in a gesture of peace, approaching them with confidence as Felix and Jisung trailed behind.

“We’re not here to fight,” Changbin said, voice clear and authoritative as he continued towards them, coming to a halt about 3 yards from the gate. “We’d like to speak to Park about the members of our crew he has staying there.”  One of the guards wrinkled his nose at that, and Felix noted with quiet amusement the fact that Changbin didn’t mention that they were held captive—only ‘staying’, like guests or invitees.

The taller of the pair nodded to the other, who turned and disappeared through the gate. “Wait here,” the first grunted. Changbin nodded. His face was still covered by the mask, but Felix imagined him to be smiling pleasantly, rocking back and forth on his heels as they waited.

After a few minutes, the other guard returned, slightly out of breath. He hissed something to his compatriot, who pressed his lips together tightly before nodding. “Park will see you,” he said, addressing Changbin, “but he promises nothing. You’ll stay with us. Weapons stay sheathed.” He paused. “We expect you to abide by that. There are women and children in the village.”

Changbin nodded, the picture of grace. His diplomatic side was odd to see. “Of course. We wouldn’t dream of it.” The sword sheathed at Felix’s side felt hot against his leg.

“Follow me,” the first guard said, expression a mixture between smugness and complete awe. He seemed unwilling to look Changbin in the eye (which Felix thought perfectly understandable).

The group followed after him through the gate, Jisung and Felix trailing at the back near the second guard. They traipsed through dry gray woods for about a minute, Felix’s heart hammering in his chest so loudly he was sure the guards could hear it. He could barely feel his fingers as they clenched so tightly into his fists, sure that his fingernails were digging crescents onto the undersides of his palms but unable to relax.

As they emerged from the cluster of trees, buildings started to appear on both sides, creating a scene not unlike Felix’s own village. A few windows were open with curious faces peering out, and a young boy sweeping his porch froze to stare at Changbin and the following entourage with his jaw dropped. As they entered the village, Jisung squeezed Felix’s hand tightly and then let go, staring straight ahead with his face completely expressionless. Felix followed suite, trying to ignore his shallow breathing. _Seungmin_ , he thought. _Seungmin is here somewhere._

He tried to keep his gaze straight ahead, focusing so hard on not tripping and on keeping his breathing regulated that he nearly walked straight into Chan’s back when they came to a halt. Jisung nudged him, and he followed the other boy’s gaze to a house that was noticeably nicer than all the rest they’d passed, a lush garden between them and sparkling white outer walls, the low-hanging roof giving a strong sense of wealth and security.

Standing on the porch was a heavyset man in unnecessarily gaudy robes, that really did no kindnesses to his figure. His face was hard to see, slightly shrouded in shadow, but there was immediately no doubt in Felix’s mind that this must be Park.

“Park-ssi!” Changbin called in a ringing voice, confirming what Felix had already realized. “It’s been a while!”

Park did not answer immediately, stepping down from the porch and walking a few feet forward. Changbin approached him as well, stepping carefully through the garden, figure tall and imposing. The guards that had accompanied them stiffened, but made no move to stop him. Chan and Faa followed a few paces behind, Jisung, Minho, and Felix remaining a little further back.

“Perhaps too long,” Park said finally as a way of answer, an insincere smile splitting his round face. Were his eyes not quite so hard, he might look kindly, like a dear uncle or monk—certainly nothing like a warlord. As it were, though, there was a glint in his demeanor that made Felix want nothing more than to turn tail and run. He gritted his teeth.

“May we discuss?” Changbin said after a tense moment of silence. 

Park’s smile widened. “Discuss what?”

“I think you know what I’m talking about,” Changbin said, voice slightly harder, patience fraying. Felix noted with a jolt that both guards that had been escorting them had their guns raised and pointed towards the Dark Bandit while he conversed, and he grabbed Jisung’s arm, trying to alert him to it. Jisung shook his head.

“But they—”

“Shh, I know. He knows too. It’s okay.”

Felix lowered his hand, curling it into a fist to try and stop the shaking.

Park feigned surprise. “Your two boys? They’re here.”

“Yes. We’d like them back, if it’s not too much trouble,” Changbin said, voice clipped.

Park sucked in air through his teeth, tilting his head. “And what will you give me for them?”

Changbin scoffed. “Not much, if that’s what you’re expecting.” (Felix’s fists clenched further, if that were possible.) “What do you want?”

“Don’t act aloof with me, Seo,” Park said, annoyance creeping into his nasal voice. “I know you… care. Shit, one of them’s a kid, you’re no monster.”

“Are you?”

Park had a gold tooth. Felix could see it, glinting in the sunlight. “I don’t do the  _ feelings _ thing with my men. That’s the difference between us.”

Behind him, there was a bit of commotion, and then more figures emerged from the house, and Felix’s heart jumped to his throat.

It was Justin and Seungmin, flanked by two guards each. Seungmin was standing steadily on both feet, jaw clenched, but his face was completely drained of blood and Felix knew he was trying to hide his leg wound but that his strength wouldn’t last much longer. Next to him, Justin looked almost bored, but there was a long, ugly scratch across his face that definitely hadn’t been there before, and his left eye was swelling into a nasty bruise.

“Don’t move,” Jisung whispered next to him, and Felix realized he’d been twitching, ready to run to help his cousin. Neither of them was physically restrained, but Justin’s sword was nowhere to be seen, and it was obvious that any escape attempt made on their part would be tragically unsuccessful. With a deep breath, Felix forced himself to stay still and watch as Seungmin caught his eye, his cousin’s stiff expression shifting to surprised as he recognized the rescue party. Felix hoped desperately that Seungmin could understand his telepathically related message not to try anything.

“I can give you forty gold pieces,” Changbin was saying, features unmoving.

Park chuckled. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be that kind of payment,” the warlord said. “You could consider this simply me… doing you a favor. And you’d be in my debt—we part ways now, but if I need something from you, you honor it. You’re an honorable man, are you not, Seo?”

A muscle twitched in Changbin’s neck “I don’t think that will work for me.”

“I’m not exactly giving you another option.”

“There’s always another option.”

Park stared at him for a second, all traces of humor or false kindness gone from his face. He nodded once, short and dismissive, then turned to gesture minutely over his shoulder. Felix’s eyes followed the warlord’s motion almost in slow motion as one of the guards standing with Justin and Seungmin by the house nodded and shoved Justin to his knees, pistol pressed painfully against the back of the blonde man’s skull.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> how was everyones day i watched terminator 1 and terminator 2 and also jojo rabbit. i gotta say jojo rabbit was my fave with terminator 2 in a close second they really improved on the special effects from the first to the second. good for them. also arnold schwarzenegger looks much better with eyebrows than without
> 
> comments n kudos give much love <33


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix tasted the blood before he realized he’d been biting his lip so hard it split, and it felt like the world froze for a second, Changbin’s hair mid-ruffled by the wind, Park halfway through a careless blink. Felix couldn’t help but imagine the bullet halfway through a man’s skull, and there was Seungmin right next to the loaded gun and a threat more present than any Felix had ever lived through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i took a week longer break than i anticipated! my mom and i spent the last week TRAVELLING to NEW YORK for college visits which as im sure youre aware was not a great time to be travelling in ny. we are both fine (????) and were very careful but my god. this is certainly a strange time we are living in. wash your hands n dont hoard toilet paper <3 and stay healthy everyone...and i hope u enjoy this chapter! plan 2 update next sunday like usual but here's an early one since i took so long lol

Felix tasted the blood before he realized he’d been biting his lip so hard it split, and it felt like the world froze for a second, Changbin’s hair mid-ruffled by the wind, Park halfway through a careless blink. Felix couldn’t help but imagine the bullet halfway through a man’s skull, and there was Seungmin right next to the loaded gun and a threat more present than any Felix had ever lived through.

And then the second was over, and Changbin jerked his head to the left in an obvious signal, and all hell broke loose.

In all of a single second, Chan unstrapped the pistol from his leg, lifted, and fired without even seeming to bother to aim. Felix did not watch the bullet wound open in the forehead of the man holding Justin; he only felt it happen, and then Faa had done something, moved if just barely, and two of the other guards on the porch had fallen. Felix thought he might have seen a knife in a chest, but then everything tasted like vomit and he looked away.

With a shout, the guard nearest to them shifted his gun from aiming at Changbin to aiming at Faa, but before he could even properly do so, Minho grabbed his wrist from behind and twisted it so hard Felix heard the snap as the guard’s gun fell to the ground and Jisung kicked it behind him. Without thinking, Felix bent down to pick it up as fast as he could, backing up several paces as he tried not to drop the weapon with shaking hands.

“Don’t do anything!” Jisung yelled when he saw Felix staring at the gun, undoubtedly white as a sheet. Felix nodded without hesitation, frozen.

The other guard that had been standing with them several paces back still had his gun pointed at Changbin, terror painting his face. He looked awfully young.

Before any of them could even move, the guard squeezed the trigger with his eyes shut tight.

Felix watched, as if in slow motion, as the bullet rocketed from the gun, straight through the empty space between Chan and Minho. For a moment it seemed everything was so slow and still that Felix wanted to scream at someone to just pluck the bullet out of the air before it lodged itself in the back of Changbin’s neck, but then time was moving again and there was no stopping its path.

Felix stared in horror, hands almost slack enough to drop the gun he’d forgotten he was holding as the bullet clearly struck the back of the Dark Bandit’s head.

And then went clear through.

Vision blurry, Felix saw Park fall to his knees, clutching his shoulder, which it seemed had been hit. The image of Changbin shimmered and promptly vanished, Felix’s eyes going wider than he ever thought they could, and the dark-haired man reappeared several feet to the right of where he’d appeared to have just been shot. Felix suddenly realized that, of course, that was where he’d been standing the whole time. So why hadn’t he seen that sooner?

Mind spinning, Felix barely noticed as Changbin thrust out his hand, but he definitely noticed when a cloud of the same inky blackness he’d seen hovering above Changbin’s palm back in the village appeared around Park, covering his eyes like a misty scarf. The older man scrabbled at his eyes as if trying to tear something off, and Felix realized with a choke of horror that he’d been effectively blinded.

“Shoot the kid!” Park screamed.

Felix’s eyes moved to the last remaining guard on the porch, watching the man’s hand twitch on his gun, and before Felix knew it he was raising the weapon he’d picked up to point at the man’s head at the exact same time as the guard pointed his at Seungmin.

A gunshot.

And all Felix could do was wait to see who would fall.

With no air in his lungs, he saw the guard drop to his knees, eyes empty and hair matted with his own blood, then keel to the side. Somewhere behind Felix, he could just barely register the fact that Jisung had tackled the guard that had shot at Changbin (or the projection of Changbin?) and disarmed him.

It was Justin. Justin had shot the other guard on the porch and Seungmin was alive somehow, shaking and face completely devoid of color but unshot, unharmed.

It was like no time had passed and four men were dead, and Felix thought he might throw up but there was no time for that, and Justin was heaving Seungmin to his feet, practically carrying him as Seungmin shook and Justin sprinted with strength he shouldn’t have past Park, still prone on the ground, to the rest of the group.

“Out of here,” he breathed as he approached, Changbin following after him.

The Dark Bandit did not look well. He was much paler than he had been, eyes slightly glazed over and looking a little dizzy. Chan grabbed his wrist and placed one hand on his back, murmuring something to the younger man with a darkly urgent expression. Changbin closed his eyes for a second, then shook his head. Chan started to say something else, but Changbin cut him off.

“We’ll never make it otherwise,” he said, shaking his head again and taking a deep breath, glancing around as if seeing them all for the first time. The guard Jisung had disarmed, the young one, had fled. Felix didn’t blame him—technically, he’d just shot the highest authority he knew besides the King, if only by accident. The one with the broken wrist was lying on the ground several feet away, cradling it and moaning to himself.

“Justin, stay behind Felix,” Chan was saying. “Felix, hold on to me. Jisung, get the—get Seungmin.”

Jisung quickly hoisted Seungmin onto his own back, being as careful of the boy’s injured leg as possible. Felix grabbed Chan’s arm. “What’s happening?” he whispered, ignoring the fact that he was probably crying a little. He felt Justin grab his wrist from where he stood behind him, flanking the back of the group.

“This was not meant to happen this dramatically,” Chan replied, jaw tense and gaze elsewhere. “Just hold on to me, and follow me no matter what. We’re getting off the island.”

Changbin had his eyes shut, apparently in intense concentration. Faa was standing near him, ever alert, a throwing knife in her hand. All the civilians had disappeared into houses the moment the gunshots began. Apparently, Park had not expected there to be a shootout, as those six guards had been the only ones present. But Felix wasn’t fool enough to believe there wouldn’t be more on their way, or stationed at the gate again, and hopelessness gripped his heart in a vice.

And then he saw Changbin’s eyes flash open, and everything went horribly, intensely black.

He squeezed Chan’s wrist so hard it must have bruised, pressing himself to the older boy in terror as an unbecoming squeak tore itself from his throat.

“It’s okay,” he heard Chan murmur. “It’s Changbin.”

The stories, Felix realized. Of the Dark Bandit plunging entire villages into darkness, a shroud of black over everyone’s eyes, a horrible but temporary blindness. He’d always listened to them with a grain of skepticism—he’d never heard of any Blessing quite that powerful. But here it was.

It was the kind of dark that was borderline claustrophobic, suffocating, the kind of dark you can’t open your eyes past, and when Chan started walking and Felix stumbled after him every nerve in his body started screaming at him to just let go, lie down, and curl into the fetal position. He closed his eyes after a few moments—it made no difference anyway—and tried to just focus on Chan in front of him and Justin’s footsteps behind him as they accelerated into a jog.

Shouts were going up, whether from other guards or from civilians, Felix wasn’t sure. He didn’t know how far the darkness extended and hoped desperately their group wasn’t just a black blob running through the streets. (Somehow, the ridiculous thought calmed him a little.) It felt like both forever and no time at all, Felix desperately trying to remember how long it had taken them on the way there.

It seemed like there were thuds and grunts all around him, and he couldn’t tell who was fighting who, or even if there  _ was _ fighting. There was one gunshot and nothing, then another, and distinctly, somewhere in front of him, he heard his cousin cry out in pain.

Felix couldn’t help the cry of “ _ Seungmin _ !” that flew from his lips.

Instantly, the grip Justin had on Felix’s hand tightened and pushed the younger boy’s arm forwards, grabbing Felix’s other wrist with his other hand and forcing both Felix’s arms across his chest in mummy-position, Justin pressed against him in a strange back-hug. There was another gunshot, and then Justin went slack against Felix’s body.

This time, Felix did finally throw up, turning to the side, yanking his mask down, retching with his eyes still closed, somehow still moving his feet forward to follow Chan, twisting to grab Justin’s limp body and pretending the wetness he felt leaking down his back from the other man was sweat and not blood. He couldn’t see anything still, somehow boosting Justin’s body onto his back with a strength he didn’t know he had, as if in a trance.

He was suddenly thrust backward several years, to Australia and childhood, to Chan giving him piggyback rides on the beach. Like he was just giving Justin a piggyback ride, like this man he’d only met today hadn’t just given his life to save Felix and his stupidity and he still didn’t know if Seungmin was okay and his legs were burning and he couldn’t hear anything except the blood roaring in his ears—

And suddenly he could see again. They were in the forest outside Park’s village, near the tree Minho had been waiting for them in when he went to scout. The sun was starting to set. When Felix turned to look back at the village, he didn’t know how to make sense of what he was looking at, the gate shimmering as if it wasn’t quite there.

Felix dropped to his knees, and Chan turned around. “Felix, c’mon, we have to—oh.”

Felix was staring at Justin’s body where it had tumbled when Felix fell, eyes wide open and glassy, still bleeding from a bullet wound in the back and a trickle of blood from his mouth as well. Felix stared at him, then looked back up at Chan, eyes swimming with tears. “I…”

Chan stared at Justin—or whatever used to be him—for a few awful moments before stooping to pick up the body.

“Come on,” he said softly to Felix, cradling the dead man with heartbreaking tenderness. Felix wondered absently how long they’d known each other. “We have to get out.”

The wind was picking up as Felix and Chan tore through the woods after the rest of the group, who had pulled a hundred or so feet ahead. Felix wiped some leftover vomit from the edge of his mouth, eyes trained on Jisung’s figure, who seemed to still have Seungmin draped over his back. Seungmin’s head was up still, and as Felix watched, he repositioned himself, shifting his arms. He was alive.

(So Felix had shouted for nothing but his own foolishness. So Justin had died for nothing but Felix’s inability to control his emotions. And all Felix knew now was that he would never be able to look Chan in the eyes again.)

Somehow, they arrived back at camp and it was like no time had passed at all, Jeongin standing with wide eyes from where he’d been crouched at the entrance to help Jisung with Seungmin. Sol and Mena dashed to Changbin’s side, helping him stand. The man looked like he was about to collapse. Sol was saying something to him fervently. Changbin nodded once before stumbling, Mena practically carrying him at this point, and Sol dashed off down the beach in what was nearly a full sprint.

Jeongin and Faa began tending to Seungmin’s leg wound, and Minho turned around to say “Hyung, how’s—oh. No. Oh, my god.”

Felix was nearly hiding behind Chan, full of a sickening mix of grief and terror and shame. This was his fault. This had been avoidable. Had he not shouted, given up their position…

“He was shot on the way out,” Chan said quietly, kneeling to lay Justin down. Felix wished someone would close the man’s eyes. “He was holding up the rear.” Felix could hear the shake in Chan’s voice.

Jisung had turned to look at them from where he’d been standing by Seungmin, and Felix just happened to catch the young boy’s face pale and go slack, stumbling towards the four of them with tears already swelling in his round eyes.

“No,” he breathed, kneeling next to Chan, repeating it like a prayer, “no, no no no, no, he—”

Chan slung an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders, pulling Jisung’s shaking form close to him as the two grieved their fallen friend. Felix felt his throat constrict, something akin to an asthma attack but much, much deeper.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. Minho looked up at him, eyes unreadable.

“For what?” the Red Bullet asked.

Felix swallowed hard. “I—I shouted—I made a noise, and he moved to protect me, he knew where they were shooting from, it should have been me—”

“Shut up, idiot,” Minho said and Felix startled into silence. “None of that ‘it should have been me’ bullshit. Justin’s been doing this most of his life. That bullet was coming our way whether you made a noise or not. He knew what he was doing.” He took a deep breath, and said in a slightly gentler voice, “It’s not your fault. We don’t have time for you to mope around thinking that.”

Through the fog in his head, Felix realized he was right. As his eyes fell on Jisung, face tear-stained as his small body curled into Chan’s hold, he realized this wasn’t about him, no matter how guilty he felt.

This wasn’t his love, or his grief. Not yet, at least.

“Your cousin probably wants to see you,” Minho said, a strange look in his eye that was nearly sympathy, but something else. The sniper looked untouchable right now, hair buffeted by sea winds, face set, altogether inhuman, and Felix thought on the rumors he’d heard of the Red Bullet potentially having the Blessing of Air. Felix nodded, his head heavy and swimming.

As he approached, Faa looked up at him, expression again unreadable. All these people were too easily stoic. Felix hesitated, unsure if it was his place to tell them about Justin. He did not envy the person who found it their duty to inform Changbin.

In the end, he said nothing, just kneeled by Seungmin. The Fox ( _ Jeongin _ , Felix remembered) had cut open Seungmin’s left pant leg to access the wound and was in the process of wrapping it, barely sparing Felix a glance as he continued at his work. Faa seemed to be cleaning a small wound on his shoulder. Seungmin had his eyes shut tight in pain, but opened them as Felix approached.

“Lix,” he said softly, managing a tight smile. Despite all the horrors of today, Felix smiled widely at his cousin.

“How’re you feeling, Minnie?” he asked quietly, reaching out to squeeze Seungmin’s hand.

“Could be better,” Seungmin admitted, grunting as he shifted positions. Felix laughed, dry and mirthless.

“Understandable.”

Seungmin looked up suddenly, making eye contact. Felix swallowed. Justin had also saved Seungmin’s life. “Lix,” Seungmin said quietly, “what the fuck did we get ourselves into?”

Felix let out a brittle breath, no answer to give. Beside him, Jeongin seemed to have finished securing Seungmin’s bandage, and coughed uncomfortably.

“Th-thank you,” Seungmin said, looking in surprise from his leg to the younger boy, whose ears turned pink at the attention. ( _ Cute _ , Felix thought with a wry smile, followed by a contemplative  _ Wow. Life is so fucking strange. _ )

“Yeah,” Jeongin mumbled, “I did the best I could—Mena’s really our healer, so they’ll probably look at it later and maybe have something to dull the pain, but that should keep it clean for now. The last thing we want is for it to get infected, so…” He trailed off, seeming to be a little embarrassed.

“What are the others doing?” Faa asked, standing up and brushing the dirt from her pants. Felix felt his stomach drop, a stone in a lake.

“The Dark—I mean, Changbin-ssi is with Mena, I think, and…” He stared at the ground, then pointed over to Chan and the other two, still kneeling by the body. “They’re with J-Justin.”

Faa gave him an alarmed look, seeming to gather all she needed to know from Felix’s broken expression. She hurried towards them, Jeongin following in confusion. Felix’s heart crumpled like paper in a fire as he looked away. He didn’t want to see the youngest’s expression when he realized what had befallen his friend. He wondered if that was the first death Jeongin would have to live through. Horribly, he thought it probably wasn’t.

He remained kneeling by Seungmin, who propped himself into a sitting position, staring after them. “He’s dead,” the younger boy finally said after a while, “isn’t he.”

It hadn’t been a question. Felix nodded anyway.

“Hyung.”

Felix looked up. Seungmin never called him hyung. His cousin was looking at him with that depth in his eyes, the same one he always got when he was about to be way too smart for his age. “It’s not your fault.” Minho’s words echoed in Felix’s mind, and he fiddled with a stone by his knees.

“He saved my life,” he finally said, and there was nothing more he could think to say.

“He saved mine too.”

Felix nodded.

They stayed that way for a long time, together and silent, and Felix quietly decided to make his gratitude outweigh his guilt. Because at least Seungmin was here. At least he still had a family.

And Chan, too, he supposed, the other closest thing he’d had to a brother. He still hadn’t allowed himself to think too much about all that, not in all the chaos, but for now things were quiet and still and a man was dead and it seemed all he could do was think.

After several minutes—or hours, Felix honestly couldn’t be less aware of the time at the moment—a hand landed on Felix’s shoulder and looked up in surprise to see Chan. The older man’s eyes were swollen and red, which Felix pretended not to notice, with another twist in his gut. “Seungmin-ssi,” Chan said gently, “can you stand?”

Seungmin shifted his leg with a wince. “I—think so?”

“It won’t be for long,” Chan promised. “We need to go down the beach a little. None of Park’s men followed us so far, but they’ll be scouring the island soon.”

“Where are we going?” Felix asked.

“Off Jeju. Back to the mainland.”

“I—how?”

“Sol brought the boat around.”

“The— what ?”

Felix’s cluelessness managed to draw a small smile from Chan, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “You’ll see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....
> 
> to the 3 ppl in the comments of the last chapter begging me not 2 kill anyone :
> 
> apologies
> 
> <3
> 
> comments n kudos r much loved!! and pls follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/jisqulsh) i live there now that i can't go anywhere


	8. VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How—?”
> 
> Jisung shrugged. “You don’t get a reputation like this for nothing. Thieving on land is fine, but this levels us up, huh? We’re basically pirates.”
> 
> “We’re not pirates,” said Chan.
> 
> “We’re totally pirates,” Jisung mumbled under his breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [tw for referenced past child abuse in this chap once it gets to italics! i should probably add that 2 the tags huh]
> 
> things r rlly crazy huh ??? my city just went on lockdown. i hope everyones doing ok and self-isolating—its not about whether you'll be affected by it, but who you might pass it to, and who they might pass it to, etc. if we want this whole mess to be done and dealt with, we need to comply with the CDC and WHO's advice. ok love u guys!! hope this fic and others might serve as a distraction in this pretty dark and scary time. im a highschool senior and prom is already cancelled with graduation on the fence and its just. very strange to be living through something even our parents and grandparents have never experienced anything like.
> 
> love u all basically <3 take care and i hope u enjoy the chapter!!

Supplies were being removed from the caravans with startling efficiency, and as Felix watched, Jisung did _something_ with the structure that caused the whole cloth top to fold into itself. Minho began to help him remove the wheels, and in seconds the caravans had been folded into a compact pile of wood slats, wheels, and cloth, as spare resources were tied to the horses.

Chan stood, he and Felix helping Seungmin up. The younger boy leaned on Felix’s shoulder as they shuffled forward a few steps, testing his leg. After a moment he nodded with a grimace. “It’s fine for now.”

“Not long to walk,” Chan promised. “Just around the beach, couple hundred paces at most.”

“You said a  _ boat _ ?” Felix asked, arm still wrapped around Seungmin’s shoulder to keep the younger stable. “You guys have a… a boat?”

“Not always,” Chan said, bending to pick up a box of supplies with a grunt. “We usually stay on the mainland. But sometimes—like, y’know, now—we have to travel.”

“Where’d you get a  _ boat _ ?” Felix asked, still confused. Chan shrugged and shot him a halfhearted smile over his shoulder.

“We have our ways.”

Stumbling slightly with Seungmin’s weight, Felix followed Chan around the bend in the beach where Sol had disappeared earlier, Seungmin struggling on the soft sand. Without a word, Chan noticed their stumbles and ducked himself underneath Seungmin’s other arm, hand coming around to rest on Felix’s shoulder as he helped them walk. 

( _ “I got you,” Chris murmurs, and Felix has never wanted so badly to be nothing at all, this is so  _ embarrassing _ , he thinks, wiping his bloody nose and staring down at his small feet as he allows Chris to support his body weight. His ears are still ringing a little from when his father had boxed him in the head like that and he keeps getting dizzy when he knows logically he shouldn’t be. _

_ “Chris,” he says, sniffles, and starts crying. He’s nine in this memory, and newly so—Chris, him, and Chris’ grandmother had had a little celebration on Chris’ living room floor and Felix had thought maybe he didn’t really know what ‘family’ meant. _

_ “Chris,” he tries again, “why is he always so angry?” _

_ Chris sighs, heavy and too-old. “I don’t know, Lix,” he says. “I’m really sorry.” _

_ “Is it my fault?” _

_ “No,” Chris says, sounding sad and a little broken. “Never your fault, Lix. Sometimes men… Sometimes men have too much anger in their hearts. It’s not about you.”) _

They rounded a bend on the beach, and surely enough, a boat came into sight, much larger than Felix had expected. It looked like a merchant boat—and as they approached, Felix became marginally more convinced that it  _ was  _ a merchant boat, or at least that it had been.

“Is this—” Felix broke off, uncertain. Approaching them, Jisung noticed what Felix had, and smiled a little.

“Nicked it off some asshole a couple weeks ago, yeah. Nice, huh?” ‘ _ Nicked _ ’ seemed a very casual term for a boat this grand.

“How—?”

Jisung shrugged. “You don’t get a reputation like this for nothing. Thieving on land is fine, but this levels us up, huh? We’re basically pirates.”

“We’re not pirates,” said Chan.

“We’re totally pirates,” Jisung mumbled under his breath.

“Where’s Changbin?” Chan asked Faa, gently passing Seungmin off to Jisung, who nodded to Felix as the three younger boys continued together towards the ship. Behind them, Felix could hear Faa say lowly, “In his quarters already. I… I told him.” Felix’s heart clenched painfully.

He noticed Jisung on his side fall silent, clearly retreating into the memory of his lost friend. 

“I’m so sorry,” Felix murmured after a moment, not quite sure what to do.

Jisung looked up and blinked at him a couple times, shaking his head as if ridding it of cobwebs. “Nothing for you to apologize for,” he said, forcing a cheery smile.

“Are you going to…” The words  _ bury him  _ suicide-dived off Felix's tongue before he could get a chance to voice them, realizing the tactlessness of it a moment before Felix could. He quietly thanked his own incapabilities. Somehow, though, Jisung seemed to hear his unasked question. “Mena’s back with him,” he said, eyes fixed straight ahead. “They’re our healer and easily the most spiritual out of us—it’s what he would have wanted. They’ll probably bless his body and give it to the ocean.”

Felix nodded, lips tight.

After a solid 10 minutes of trying to get an injured (and increasingly embarrassed) Seungmin on deck, as the boat didn’t exactly have the proper docking to make it an easy task, Jisung was giving them a tour of the ship.

“Here’s where we’ll sleep,” he said, drawing back a flimsy curtain to a semi-cramped but cozy space full of cots. “There’s plenty of spares so you guys can pick yours.” Seungmin gratefully sat down on the nearest one, moving his injured leg gingerly. 

“So,” Felix said, turning to Jisung, “are some of you like, great sailors or something? How do you have time to like, also know how to steer a giant boat?”

His confusion startled a laugh out of the other boy. “No, not really. I mean, Faa and Minho know their ways around a boat pretty well, but we rely on Sol.”

Felix thought back to the blonde woman. “And she does it all by herself? How?”

“Yeah—basically.” Jisung took a seat on the cot next to Seungmin, who blushed in surprise and scooted away a couple inches. The other boy either didn’t notice or took no offense. “She has—” he continued, then broke off, tilting his head as if asking some invisible deity a question. “Yeah, I guess she’d be fine with me telling you,” he decided. “Sol has a Blessing too,” he said, looking at Seungmin, who blinked in surprise.

“Which one?” Felix asked.

“Water,” Jisung said, a slightly awed smile creeping onto his face. “That’s why we don’t have to know much about boating—if you can control the sea around you, there isn’t much point to it. She’s easily one of the most powerful ones, at least that I’ve seen.”

“You’ve seen a lot?”

Jisung shrugged modestly. “More than most. Not as many as some.”

“Do other people here have Blessings too? Does everyone?”

Jisung laughed. “God, no. Most of us don’t. I sure don’t—used to think I wanted one, but I’ve decided I’m fine being normal. No offense,” he added as an afterthought, elbowing Seungmin in the ribs, who looked decidedly overwhelmed by the whole situation. “There’s a couple others… but it’s not really my business. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Hours later, Felix was sitting cross-legged on the deck, eyes trained on the sky as it faded into dusk. It felt like it had been millennia at least since the morning. He wondered how Amma was doing. He wondered about the mayor, if he felt he accomplished something, if he felt he had kept his city safe from harm. If he was proud.

Chan sat down next to him stiffly, sighing with relief as he leaned against the side of the boat. They sat there in silence like that for a moment, past and present melting into something that felt at least familiar, if not safe.

“I assume you have questions,” Chan said finally. Felix let his head tip back slowly until it collided with the wooden side of the boat with a small  _ thunk.  _ Questions, he pondered. Everything he needed to know sent his brain swimming, too much to even sort them out enough to pick a single one. Much more difficult still to verbalize it, to put words to the chaos of today.

Seeming to understand this turmoil, Chan cleared his throat. “Maybe I’ll just start at the beginning?”

Felix tilted to look at him, eyes narrowed. “Australia?”

“Yeah.” The older boy looked nervous.

“When you disappeared?”

Chan looked taken aback for a second, as if he’d expected Felix to say something else. “Yeah,” he said after a few moments, “We can start there. But… Ah, could you tell it to me from your perspective first?”

Felix scrunched up his nose. “Ok. It was, what, seven years ago, because you were 13 and I was 10, right?” Chan nodded. “To me, nothing much was out of the ordinary, except my mother was sick again, which was still pretty ordinary I guess. The day you… Well I guess to me it seemed like it happened overnight. I was at your grandmother’s house with you that day, and I—I helped you guys cook dinner. And then I walked home and the next day I waited for you at school, but you never showed up, and after school I went to your grandma’s to see if you were home sick but you weren’t there and she was crying and she just told me you were gone.”

Chan would not make eye contact, just nodded with a stiff jaw. Felix swallowed, trying to remember the details of that day. Chan’s grandma—who Felix had, at the time, referred to as his  _ own  _ grandmother—had been distraught, certainly, but not with the same confusion Felix had felt. She had never caved to his nagging, though, and no one else seemed to know where the older boy had gone either. Chan’s few other friends had joined Felix in a half-hearted investigation that of course got nowhere, and most adults suggested that maybe he’d just moved elsewhere for school. Felix had developed a few theories of his own, but had quickly outgrown them all (Chris had been captured by a dragon which flew him to a different country, Chris stumbled upon an underground cult society which took him prisoner, Chris had been recruited by the Crown to embark upon a top-secret royal quest to save a princess). Everything surrounding the boy who had been his best friend eventually faded into nothing more than distant memory that never sat quite right.

“So what really happened?” Felix said.

Looking up at the sky, Chan said carefully, “That night... I was just taking a walk on the beach. By the docks. There was a boat that had come in, with people talking and moving stuff on and off. You know, there were always trade boats coming and going, so I didn’t think anything of it. I was just gonna walk past, and then this kid comes out of nowhere and is sprinting at me. 

“I think he had a blindfold on, I can’t remember, but I just couldn’t process anything fast enough and he slammed right into me and we both fell. I hit my head kinda bad on the ground, and by the time I had my senses back we’d both been dragged onto the boat again., and there was a guy grabbing my face and telling someone I could be sold in Korea with the others.”

“Slavers?” Felix asked in a whisper. The malicious practice was a common enough threat now, but Felix can’t remember ever having been warned about them when he was in Australia. Chris nodded.

“They tied our hands and threw us in some holding area where there was just one other boy. The other people that had been there had been transferred to a buyer in Australia, so it was just the three of us. At first, the boy who ran into me wouldn’t say anything, and I thought he was just mad because I ruined his escape. Or I guess maybe he was. But then I tried talking to him in Korean, and he seemed really surprised. All the slavers we’d seen only spoke English. So he started talking to me.”

“Was it Changbin?”

“Yeah." Chan smiled at him ruefully. "Guess that’s kind of obvious. Changbin was from Korea and had stowed away on the boat when it docked there, trying to run away, hadn’t realized what kind of boat it really was. They’d found him about halfway through the trip and thrown him in with the others. The other kid was really little, must have been only 8 or 9. It was Jeongin.”

Felix blinked in surprise. If the Fox had only been eight or nine all those years ago, he was even younger than Felix had realized. 

“He and Changbin were together in the beginning… I don’t even fully know their story. Changbin treats Jeongin like a little brother. I’ve never seen him so protective of someone, and as far as I know they're not blood-related, but we all know that doesn't matter much.

“So, anyway. It’s a long trip there, and every day there’s nothing to do but talk. Eventually, Jeongin warms up to me too, I tell them about my life back home, grandma and you and stuff—” (Felix looked away) “—and one day Changbin just. Tells me. That he has a Blessing. And he showed me—I mean, you’ve seen it. And I—well, anyway. He tells me what he’s heard about Blessings back home in Korea, and how he wants to help the other people that have Blessings, thinks th-they should stick together. That they could do something about the system that way.”

“Do what?”

“Well—he didn’t really have an actual plan in place. I mean, he was like 12. But the immediate goal was to escape when we got to Korea. None of the slavers knew Bin had a Blessing, obviously, and I would help him practice at night until he could create a Blindness on a larger scale." He said Blindness like it was a proper noun, and indeed it seemed the best descriptor of what Changbin did. Felix shivered a little. "And when we docked and someone came to take us to transfer us to the next buyer, he put it over all their eyes and I managed to grab their weapons. We still barely made it out, and he…” Chan’s mind seemed elsewhere. “I gave him one of the guns I grabbed, and when we were almost out, one of them grabbed Jeongin, and Changbin just. Shot the guy. And we got away—ran into the forest until we were sure no one was following us. I’ve never seen him—Changbin—as upset since then.” He made eye contact with Felix then, his gaze cold and pointed. “He doesn’t take killing lightly, you know. He’s no monster.” 

Felix just nodded. “But how did you—then what?”

“We got by on stealing money and food for a bit, sleeping in the woods—thank god it wasn’t winter—but none of us really knew what we were doing and we were just kids. After a few weeks it was clear we were gonna starve, and Jeongin couldn’t handle it. We’d been hearing rumors in the villages we went through, about a woman with the Healing Blessing, who lived like a hermit further North. Bin got obsessed with finding her. Long story short, we did before long, by some miracle. We told her our story and we—Bin told her about his Blessing, and she let us stay.”

Felix leaned forward, brain buzzing with shock. Of all the scenarios he’d imagined might have befallen Chris when he was young, this was so far removed from any of them that he still couldn’t process it as truth. “But you’re—not with her now?”

“No,” Chan said in the same way someone would say  _ duh,  _ “We haven’t seen her since we left.”

“Why would you leave?”

“Changbin always wanted to be doing something more. It probably has to do with his past—which isn’t my business to tell you, by the way—but even those years we were there, he was deadset on helping. Saving other people with Blessings.” He scratched at his jaw anxiously. “Four years ago, Sol showed up at the cottage with her little sister, who was half-dead.”

Felix raised his eyebrows in shock.

“She had just…” Chan trailed off again, turning away with a pained grimace. “She had just lost her parents in an attack on her village. They were searching for people with Blessings. She’d gotten away with her sister and heard the stories, come to find the woman with the Healing Blessing. Her sister almost didn’t make it.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. But I mean, the woman healed her. And they stayed with us, and Sol told us about her Blessing. And I think that’s when Changbin really knew he needed to leave. So after maybe a month or so, he proposes to us—just me and Sol, really—how he wants to leave, and to find other people with Blessings. And to find the people who did what they did to Sol’s village and stop them. Sol’s little sister stayed with the woman, and Jeongin was  _ meant  _ to stay, but he wouldn’t let Changbin leave without him. 

“And the rest you can assume, we found people along the way, and here we are. Made a name for ourselves over the years, Changbin most of all. But most of the stuff on the wanted poster—we’ve no claim to that. It’s the Crown that’s been persecuting Blesseds, whose agents we’ve been going after. They assigned us those crimes, but I promise we’d never do anything like most of the rumors you’ve probably heard.”

Felix rolled the story over in his mind a few times, getting used to the space it took up in his perceived truth of the world. The story was insane, but somehow believable. And certainly a much more comfortable reality than one where his childhood best friend had joined a band of serial killers.

“What happened to you after I left?” Chan asked. “I did some searching, we came back to Australia a year ago and they told me you’d come to Korea after—” He broke off, clearly not wanting to say it himself.

“My mom died a few months after you left,” Felix said bluntly. “Sickness. We’d seen it coming. Dad a few months later, freak accident at his work, and I got sent here.”

There’s a long pause. “I’m so sorry, Lix…”

“It’s not like you could have done anything,” Felix said, trying to keep the resentment out of his voice. It didn’t do any good for either of them. “Besides, living with my aunt and Seungmin was definitely b-better.” His voice caught on the last word.

“Yeah?” Chan seemed to be quietly fishing for something.

“What?”

“So nothing…” His voice was strained. “So nothing strange happened with you. Since. Excluding…” (he made a vague gesture at the surrounding scene) “... all this, of course.”

Felix turned to look at him properly, features bunched up in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“So you really have no idea why I was looking for you? Why we were all looking for you?”

Felix stared at him for another few seconds, then shook his head deliberately.

“Lix…” Chan looked like he’d swallowed a dry and sizeable rock. “I… Before I left…”

“What?” Felix asked again, panic bubbling in his chest. 

Chan took a thick breath. “Since we were kids, I’ve been pretty positive that you have a Blessing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to the like three ppl in the comments who totally guessed the plot i was going for several chapters before this LMAO
> 
> ik this chapter was a lot of talking and backstory from here on out we finally start getting to the action (kinda?)
> 
> im very excited for the chapter after the next one
> 
> comments n kudos greatly appreciated <3

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/jisqulsh) or [tumblr](https://jisquish.tumblr.com) i beg of u  
> kudos + comments greatly appreciated <3


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